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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: prune · bulb · shower · rest · stem · clip · kid · degree

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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. kid — child
  4. shower — rain
  5. stem — to come from
  6. degree — temperature
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. prune — to trim
  9. shower — to wash
  10. bulb — for light
  11. rest — what's left
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. rest — a break
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. clip — a video
  17. degree — an amount
  18. clip — to cut
  19. kid — to tease
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. clip — for paper
  22. rest — what's left
  23. bulb — for light
  24. stem — of a plant

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