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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 like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. file — a tool
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. degree — an amount
  5. last — finally
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. snap — to click
  8. toast — a drink to someone
  9. season — in sport
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. file — a document
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. jam — to spread on bread
  14. last — to go on
  15. degree — temperature
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. jam — in traffic
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. file — a line of people
  21. season — of the year
  22. degree — from a university
  23. jam — a tight spot
  24. last — final

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