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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: jam · prune · clip · degree · nail · field · ball · game

  1. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. prune — to trim
  3. degree — an amount
  4. jam — a tight spot
  5. field — for sport
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. game — a match
  10. ball — a great time
  11. field — farmland
  12. degree — from a university
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. clip — a video
  15. prune — to trim
  16. clip — for paper
  17. game — wild animals
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. field — a subject
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. ball — a dance
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. clip — to cut
  24. degree — temperature

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