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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 120 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 dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. chair — a leader
  3. last — final
  4. degree — from a university
  5. last — to go on
  6. last — finally
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. shower — to wash
  9. degree — temperature
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. shower — rain
  12. net — in sport
  13. net — after costs
  14. net — for catching
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. ground — crushed
  17. march — the month
  18. ground — the earth
  19. degree — an amount
  20. march — the month
  21. march — music
  22. fork — in a road
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. ground — a position

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