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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. fine — high quality
  3. race — humankind
  4. march — the month
  5. mark — a trace
  6. degree — from a university
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. degree — temperature
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. race — the arms race
  11. stand — to bear
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. file — a tool
  14. file — a line of people
  15. file — a document
  16. degree — an amount
  17. snap — to click
  18. march — the month
  19. race — a contest
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. mark — a grade
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. march — 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