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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: prune · chip · jam · degree · fork · bat · squash · land

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  15. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. chip — to eat
  3. land — a country
  4. prune — to trim
  5. degree — an amount
  6. squash — to crush
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. chip — for betting
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. squash — the sport
  14. jam — a tight spot
  15. jam — in traffic
  16. prune — to trim
  17. degree — from a university
  18. jam — to spread on bread
  19. fork — in a road
  20. land — ground
  21. land — to come down
  22. degree — temperature
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. chip — in a computer

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