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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: bulb · prune · capital · row · clip · scale · branch · degree

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The light ________________ burned out.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. bulb — for light
  3. scale — size or range
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. degree — an amount
  9. clip — to cut
  10. degree — from a university
  11. degree — temperature
  12. scale — in music
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. bulb — for light
  15. capital — a city
  16. clip — a video
  17. prune — to trim
  18. row — to paddle
  19. clip — for paper
  20. prune — to trim
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. branch — a division
  24. row — a line

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