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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. last — finally
  3. field — farmland
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. prune — to trim
  6. field — a subject
  7. saw — the tool
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. squash — to crush
  10. saw — the tool
  11. march — music
  12. degree — temperature
  13. stem — to come from
  14. degree — an amount
  15. squash — the sport
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. field — for sport
  18. degree — from a university
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. march — the month
  21. last — final
  22. last — to go on
  23. march — the month
  24. prune — the fruit

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com