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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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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: degree · arm · saw · prune · band · chair · row · last

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. prune — to trim
  3. saw — the tool
  4. band — a music group
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. saw — the tool
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. degree — from a university
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. last — finally
  13. degree — temperature
  14. degree — an amount
  15. last — to go on
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. prune — to trim
  18. band — a ring
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. row — to paddle
  23. last — final
  24. row — a line

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