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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 people resisted their cruel ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ruler — a monarch
  2. degree — from a university
  3. row — to paddle
  4. march — music
  5. march — the month
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. content — the amount
  8. bat — the animal
  9. drill — army training
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. march — the month
  12. drill — the tool
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. row — a line
  16. degree — an amount
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. drill — a practice
  20. degree — temperature
  21. content — happy
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. content — videos and posts

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