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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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. clip — for paper
  5. rest — what's left
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. rest — a break
  8. degree — temperature
  9. tear — from crying
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. cell — in biology
  12. last — to go on
  13. degree — an amount
  14. tear — from crying
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. degree — from a university
  17. last — finally
  18. clip — to cut
  19. rest — what's left
  20. clip — a video
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. last — final
  23. cell — a phone
  24. tear — to rip

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