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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: tear · arm · clip · roll · march · kid · prune · degree

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. degree — an amount
  3. degree — temperature
  4. clip — a video
  5. prune — to trim
  6. tear — from crying
  7. march — music
  8. roll — a list
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. degree — from a university
  11. clip — for paper
  12. march — the month
  13. roll — a cake
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. tear — to rip
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. march — the month
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. kid — child
  22. tear — from crying
  23. clip — to cut
  24. kid — to tease

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