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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. bound — obliged
  3. saw — the tool
  4. track — to keep track
  5. saw — the tool
  6. degree — temperature
  7. object — an aim
  8. object — a thing
  9. degree — from a university
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. degree — an amount
  12. race — a contest
  13. object — to protest
  14. bound — tied together
  15. season — in sport
  16. scale — size or range
  17. race — humankind
  18. season — of the year
  19. bound — certain
  20. track — a path
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. track — a song
  23. race — the arms race
  24. scale — in music

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