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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 120 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: degree · capital · shower · row · prune · snap · mate · face

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. shower — rain
  3. shower — to wash
  4. mate — a partner
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. mate — to breed
  8. capital — money
  9. face — to point toward
  10. face — part of the head
  11. face — to confront
  12. snap — to click
  13. row — a line
  14. row — to paddle
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. degree — from a university
  18. prune — to trim
  19. capital — a city
  20. degree — an amount
  21. degree — temperature
  22. mate — a friend
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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