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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 116 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 · degree · squash · prune · club · stock · kid · fall

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. squash — to crush
  3. degree — from a university
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. kid — to tease
  6. stock — goods
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. club — a group
  9. degree — an amount
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. fall — to drop
  12. club — for dancing
  13. game — a match
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. game — wild animals
  17. stock — shares
  18. fall — to drop
  19. degree — temperature
  20. prune — to trim
  21. club — for golf
  22. fall — the season
  23. prune — to trim
  24. squash — the sport

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