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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: prune · court · bat · degree · hide · mark · race · perch

  1. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  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. mark — a trace
  2. prune — to trim
  3. race — a contest
  4. prune — to trim
  5. race — the arms race
  6. mark — a grade
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. court — of a king
  10. degree — from a university
  11. bat — the animal
  12. race — humankind
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. court — of law
  15. court — for sport
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. degree — temperature
  21. degree — an amount
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. perch — the fish
  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