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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: degree · pitcher · bore · race · firm · prune · cold · spring

  1. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. degree — an amount
  3. firm — steady
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. degree — from a university
  7. spring — of water
  8. spring — the season
  9. degree — temperature
  10. prune — to trim
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bore — to drill
  13. prune — to trim
  14. race — humankind
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. race — the arms race
  17. race — a contest
  18. bore — to tire
  19. firm — decided
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. spring — a coil
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bore — gave birth

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