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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: prune · craft · degree · net · hand · mine · nail · chair

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. prune — to trim
  3. hand — help
  4. chair — a leader
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. net — in sport
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. degree — an amount
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. craft — a skill
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. net — for catching
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. hand — in cards
  18. prune — to trim
  19. mine — for digging
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. craft — boats
  22. net — after costs
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. degree — temperature

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