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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 120 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: game · content · wound · degree · cell · bore · mate · prune

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. mate — a partner
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. prune — to trim
  6. wound — an injury
  7. cell — in biology
  8. bore — to drill
  9. bore — to tire
  10. cell — a phone
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. mate — to breed
  13. wound — an injury
  14. game — a match
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. mate — a friend
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. content — happy
  19. game — wild animals
  20. prune — to trim
  21. content — the amount
  22. degree — temperature
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. degree — from a university

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