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

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. march — music
  3. fork — in a road
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. file — a line of people
  6. pop — music
  7. file — a tool
  8. file — a document
  9. pop — to visit
  10. degree — temperature
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. degree — an amount
  13. pop — soda
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. march — the month
  16. degree — from a university
  17. march — the month
  18. rule — a law

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