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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: cue · wave · degree · cold · wind · bulb · march · prune

  1. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — of the sea
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cue — for pool
  4. cue — a hint
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. degree — temperature
  7. prune — to trim
  8. prune — to trim
  9. march — music
  10. degree — from a university
  11. bulb — for light
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. cue — a signal
  15. wind — moving air
  16. cold — an illness
  17. march — the month
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. march — the month
  22. bulb — for light
  23. degree — an amount
  24. cold — not warm

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