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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. The light ________________ burned out.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. march — the month
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. bulb — for light
  5. bulb — for light
  6. object — a thing
  7. march — music
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. degree — from a university
  10. object — an aim
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. kid — child
  14. object — to protest
  15. march — the month
  16. degree — an amount
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. row — a line
  19. kid — to tease
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. degree — temperature
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. row — to paddle

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