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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: clip · ground · pound · degree · prune · toast · scale · jam

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. jam — in traffic
  4. degree — from a university
  5. degree — temperature
  6. ground — a position
  7. prune — to trim
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. clip — to cut
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. pound — a weight
  12. clip — a video
  13. scale — size or range
  14. jam — to spread on bread
  15. ground — crushed
  16. clip — for paper
  17. prune — to trim
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. scale — in music
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. jam — a tight spot
  22. degree — an amount
  23. toast — a drink to someone
  24. ground — the earth

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