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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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Word bank
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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: bat · degree · prune · cell · row · rule

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. cell — in biology
  3. degree — from a university
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. degree — an amount
  6. rule — a law
  7. row — to paddle
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. rule — government
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. bat — the animal
  14. cell — a phone
  15. row — a line
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. prune — to trim

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