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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. degree — an amount
  3. present — the time now
  4. degree — from a university
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. present — a gift
  7. file — a document
  8. mine — for digging
  9. drill — a practice
  10. face — part of the head
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. degree — temperature
  13. drill — army training
  14. craft — a skill
  15. file — a tool
  16. face — to point toward
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — money
  21. file — a line of people
  22. drill — the tool
  23. face — to confront
  24. craft — boats

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