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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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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  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. last — final
  2. last — finally
  3. root — of a word
  4. march — music
  5. clip — for paper
  6. march — the month
  7. degree — an amount
  8. last — to go on
  9. march — the month
  10. clip — to cut
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. cell — a phone
  13. bore — to tire
  14. saw — the tool
  15. clip — a video
  16. saw — the tool
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. degree — from a university
  19. bore — to drill
  20. cell — in biology
  21. root — the cause
  22. root — of a plant
  23. bore — gave birth
  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