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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: kid · degree · spring · hand · fall · wake · swing · prune

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. swing — in golf
  3. kid — to tease
  4. kid — child
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. spring — a coil
  7. swing — to play on
  8. degree — from a university
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. fall — to drop
  11. fall — to drop
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. wake — a trail
  14. prune — to trim
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. spring — of water
  17. degree — temperature
  18. hand — in cards
  19. swing — music
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. fall — the season
  22. degree — an amount
  23. spring — the season
  24. hand — help

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