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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 120 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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: march · race · degree · prune · cue · deal

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. race — humankind
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. march — the month
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. degree — temperature
  7. cue — a signal
  8. prune — to trim
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. degree — from a university
  11. deal — to handle
  12. cue — for pool
  13. cue — a hint
  14. march — music
  15. march — the month
  16. prune — to trim
  17. race — a contest
  18. race — the arms race

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