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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: spring · chair · row · race · degree · prune · drill · firm

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. chair — a leader
  3. firm — steady
  4. drill — the tool
  5. spring — a coil
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. row — a line
  8. drill — a practice
  9. race — a contest
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. degree — temperature
  12. prune — to trim
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. spring — of water
  15. degree — an amount
  16. row — to paddle
  17. firm — decided
  18. race — the arms race
  19. spring — the season
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. prune — to trim
  22. firm — a company
  23. drill — army training
  24. degree — from a university

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