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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. toast — bread
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. key — in music
  5. degree — an amount
  6. key — for a lock
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bound — obliged
  9. key — the most important part
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. degree — from a university
  13. wake — a trail
  14. capital — a city
  15. cold — not warm
  16. degree — temperature
  17. bound — tied together
  18. bound — certain
  19. pitch — completely
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. capital — money
  24. capital — a big letter

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