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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: rest · degree · cold · pit · object · prune · row · season

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. prune — to trim
  4. cold — an illness
  5. degree — from a university
  6. prune — to trim
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. row — to paddle
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. rest — what's left
  12. object — to protest
  13. object — a thing
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — not warm
  16. object — an aim
  17. pit — a hole
  18. season — in sport
  19. rest — what's left
  20. row — a line
  21. pit — in a race
  22. season — of the year
  23. degree — temperature
  24. degree — an amount

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