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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. key — the most important part
  3. last — finally
  4. last — to go on
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. march — the month
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. tube — a container
  9. march — music
  10. saw — the tool
  11. march — the month
  12. cold — an illness
  13. key — for a lock
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. saw — the tool
  16. tube — the underground
  17. cold — not warm
  18. key — in music

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