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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 116 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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468
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: bear · band · coach · cell · degree · prune · game · squash

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. cell — a phone
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. game — a match
  6. bear — the animal
  7. degree — temperature
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. squash — to crush
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. band — a ring
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. band — a music group
  16. prune — to trim
  17. degree — an amount
  18. prune — to trim
  19. cell — in biology
  20. degree — from a university
  21. game — wild animals
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. bear — the animal
  24. squash — the sport

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