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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: rock · coach · tear · kick · wake · degree · cell · prune

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. prune — to trim
  3. degree — an amount
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. rock — music
  6. rock — a stone
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. wake — a trail
  11. cell — a phone
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. cell — in biology
  14. tear — to rip
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. kick — in football
  19. degree — from a university
  20. tear — from crying
  21. prune — to trim
  22. degree — temperature
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. tear — from crying

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