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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. face — part of the head
  3. degree — from a university
  4. key — for a lock
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. key — in music
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. wound — an injury
  9. face — to confront
  10. court — of law
  11. wound — an injury
  12. court — for sport
  13. court — of a king
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. degree — temperature
  16. clip — a video
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. face — to point toward
  19. clip — to cut
  20. clip — for paper
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. degree — an amount

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