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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. cold — an illness
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. last — finally
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. land — a country
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. root — of a word
  11. land — to come down
  12. root — the cause
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. degree — an amount
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. degree — temperature
  18. last — final
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. root — of a plant
  22. land — ground
  23. last — to go on
  24. perch — the fish

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