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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: pop · degree · prune · wind · race · club · file · mark

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. wind — moving air
  3. club — for dancing
  4. degree — temperature
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. race — humankind
  7. file — a line of people
  8. file — a tool
  9. degree — from a university
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. prune — to trim
  12. mark — a trace
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. pop — soda
  15. mark — a grade
  16. race — a contest
  17. race — the arms race
  18. club — a group
  19. file — a document
  20. club — for golf
  21. pop — music
  22. pop — to visit
  23. degree — an amount
  24. wind — moving air

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