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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: arm · degree · land · season · prune · key · last · cold

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. land — to come down
  3. last — finally
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. land — a country
  6. land — ground
  7. prune — to trim
  8. key — in music
  9. cold — not warm
  10. key — for a lock
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. degree — temperature
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. last — to go on
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. degree — an amount
  18. key — the most important part
  19. season — in sport
  20. degree — from a university
  21. season — of the year
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. last — final
  24. cold — an illness

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