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

Word bank: wave · wake · tear · hide · degree · chest · march · prune

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. march — music
  3. tear — to rip
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. prune — to trim
  6. chest — of your body
  7. degree — temperature
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. wake — a trail
  11. tear — from crying
  12. chest — of your body
  13. degree — from a university
  14. tear — from crying
  15. prune — to trim
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. march — the month
  20. degree — an amount
  21. march — the month
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. chest — a box

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