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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: tear · degree · plane · snap · field · prune · arm · wake

  1. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — a tool
  2. prune — to trim
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. snap — to click
  8. field — farmland
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. degree — an amount
  13. tear — from crying
  14. prune — to trim
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. tear — to rip
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. tear — from crying
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. degree — temperature
  21. degree — from a university
  22. field — for sport
  23. wake — a trail
  24. field — a subject

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