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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.

Words on the sheet
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: chest · leaves · prune · pop · land · degree · snap · fan

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. pop — to visit
  3. prune — to trim
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. degree — an amount
  7. pop — music
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. land — a country
  11. chest — of your body
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. land — ground
  14. land — to come down
  15. chest — a box
  16. degree — from a university
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. chest — of your body
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. pop — soda
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. degree — temperature
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. snap — to click

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