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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: cold · ground · game · degree · root · tear · prune · present

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. root — of a word
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. cold — an illness
  5. present — the time now
  6. present — there
  7. tear — to rip
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. ground — a position
  10. game — wild animals
  11. degree — temperature
  12. prune — to trim
  13. root — of a plant
  14. cold — not warm
  15. tear — from crying
  16. degree — an amount
  17. game — a match
  18. root — the cause
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. ground — the earth
  21. prune — to trim
  22. present — a gift
  23. degree — from a university
  24. ground — crushed

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