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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: prune · lash · mine · land · straw · snap · racket · degree

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. land — a country
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. degree — temperature
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. land — to come down
  12. prune — to trim
  13. degree — from a university
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. snap — to click
  19. prune — to trim
  20. land — ground
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. degree — an amount
  24. mine — for digging

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