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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. degree — from a university
  3. present — there
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. shower — rain
  6. field — farmland
  7. object — an aim
  8. present — the time now
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. field — for sport
  11. degree — temperature
  12. present — a gift
  13. object — to protest
  14. prune — to trim
  15. shower — to wash
  16. object — a thing
  17. field — a subject
  18. march — the month
  19. wound — an injury
  20. march — music
  21. degree — an amount
  22. prune — to trim
  23. wound — an injury
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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