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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. key — the most important part
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. pit — a hole
  5. spring — of water
  6. pit — in a race
  7. bat — the animal
  8. degree — an amount
  9. march — the month
  10. key — for a lock
  11. march — music
  12. track — a song
  13. spring — the season
  14. degree — from a university
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. spring — a coil
  17. track — to keep track
  18. scale — size or range
  19. scale — in music
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. march — the month
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. degree — temperature
  24. 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