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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. march — the month
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. march — music
  7. present — the time now
  8. degree — from a university
  9. court — of a king
  10. degree — an amount
  11. present — a gift
  12. tear — to rip
  13. tear — from crying
  14. degree — temperature
  15. court — of law
  16. court — for sport
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. present — there
  20. prune — to trim
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. prune — to trim
  24. tear — from crying

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