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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. fine — all right
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. chest — a box
  6. rule — government
  7. bound — obliged
  8. degree — temperature
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. chest — of your body
  11. degree — an amount
  12. fine — high quality
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. degree — from a university
  15. march — music
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. capital — money
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. march — the month
  20. rule — a law
  21. bound — tied together
  22. bound — certain
  23. capital — a city
  24. chest — of your body

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