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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 116 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. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. last — final
  4. key — the most important part
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. degree — from a university
  8. season — of the year
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. degree — an amount
  11. key — in music
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. last — finally
  14. cold — an illness
  15. pound — a weight
  16. degree — temperature
  17. season — in sport
  18. chip — for betting
  19. stem — to come from
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. last — to go on
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. chip — to eat

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