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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 120 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. My mare is ________________ in color.
  14. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. face — to confront
  5. fine — all right
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. last — final
  9. face — to point toward
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. fine — high quality
  12. face — part of the head
  13. bay — a horse colour
  14. bay — a part of the sea
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. cold — not warm
  18. degree — from a university
  19. degree — temperature
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. cold — an illness
  22. fork — in a road
  23. last — to go on
  24. last — finally

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