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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: file · prune · degree · land · fork · drill · branch · pound

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. degree — temperature
  3. prune — to trim
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. land — ground
  7. drill — army training
  8. drill — the tool
  9. land — to come down
  10. file — a tool
  11. land — a country
  12. file — a document
  13. file — a line of people
  14. degree — from a university
  15. prune — to trim
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. fork — in a road
  19. branch — a division
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. degree — an amount
  22. drill — a practice
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. pound — to hit hard

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