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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: swing · degree · stem · prune · cell · kid

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. stem — to come from
  3. cell — in biology
  4. degree — temperature
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. swing — to play on
  7. prune — to trim
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. swing — music
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. swing — in golf
  12. cell — a phone
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. prune — to trim
  15. kid — child
  16. degree — an amount
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. kid — to tease

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