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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. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  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. root — of a word
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. march — music
  5. craft — a skill
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. race — a contest
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. cold — not warm
  11. degree — from a university
  12. craft — boats
  13. pound — a weight
  14. march — the month
  15. root — the cause
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. cold — an illness
  18. march — the month
  19. degree — temperature
  20. race — humankind
  21. race — the arms race
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. root — of a plant
  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