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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. rule — a law
  3. rule — government
  4. mug — to rob
  5. last — finally
  6. clip — to cut
  7. degree — an amount
  8. march — the month
  9. object — to protest
  10. bound — obliged
  11. object — a thing
  12. clip — a video
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. march — the month
  15. object — an aim
  16. bound — certain
  17. mug — a cup
  18. last — final
  19. last — to go on
  20. bound — tied together
  21. degree — temperature
  22. clip — for paper
  23. march — music
  24. degree — from a university

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