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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 · spring · kid · bore · snap · degree · pitch · wax

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. degree — from a university
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. spring — of water
  5. snap — to click
  6. degree — temperature
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. wax — to grow
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. kid — to tease
  13. spring — a coil
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. pitch — completely
  16. prune — to trim
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. degree — an amount
  21. bore — to tire
  22. prune — to trim
  23. bore — to drill
  24. kid — child

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