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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: last · chip · prune · drill · cold · bore · roll · degree

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. prune — to trim
  3. chip — to eat
  4. last — final
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. cold — not warm
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. bore — to tire
  10. drill — army training
  11. degree — an amount
  12. bore — to drill
  13. chip — for betting
  14. degree — from a university
  15. last — finally
  16. drill — a practice
  17. drill — the tool
  18. last — to go on
  19. cold — an illness
  20. roll — a list
  21. roll — a cake
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. prune — to trim
  24. prune — the fruit

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