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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. key — for a lock
  6. object — to protest
  7. key — in music
  8. degree — temperature
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. pop — music
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. object — a thing
  13. pop — soda
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. pop — to visit
  17. degree — from a university
  18. object — an aim
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. degree — an amount
  22. fork — in a road
  23. cold — not warm
  24. plane — a tool

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