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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 112 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: stem · bat · tear · degree · scale · row · prune · mine

  1. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. tear — from crying
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. bat — the animal
  7. scale — in music
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. mine — for digging
  10. degree — from a university
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. prune — to trim
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. degree — temperature
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. stem — to come from
  18. tear — from crying
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. degree — an amount
  21. scale — size or range
  22. row — to paddle
  23. row — a line
  24. tear — to rip

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