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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. race — the arms race
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. degree — an amount
  5. vault — a safe
  6. band — a music group
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. degree — from a university
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — not warm
  11. last — final
  12. race — humankind
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. last — finally
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. vault — an arched ceiling
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. race — a contest
  19. degree — temperature
  20. march — the month
  21. march — music
  22. wake — a trail
  23. last — to go on
  24. band — a ring

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