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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: mine · racket · last · ground · degree · tear · prune · scale

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. last — finally
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. mine — for digging
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. last — final
  8. ground — crushed
  9. scale — in music
  10. ground — the earth
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. degree — from a university
  13. tear — from crying
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. scale — size or range
  16. degree — an amount
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. prune — to trim
  19. tear — to rip
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. tear — from crying
  22. degree — temperature
  23. last — to go on
  24. ground — a position

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