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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: fall · prune · degree · ground · wind · land · spring · date

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. spring — the season
  4. fall — to drop
  5. prune — to trim
  6. degree — from a university
  7. wind — moving air
  8. land — to come down
  9. ground — crushed
  10. land — ground
  11. spring — of water
  12. ground — the earth
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. date — the fruit
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. degree — temperature
  17. degree — an amount
  18. wind — moving air
  19. fall — to drop
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. prune — to trim
  22. fall — the season
  23. spring — a coil
  24. ground — a position

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