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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. degree — from a university
  4. degree — an amount
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. present — the time now
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. present — a gift
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. face — to point toward
  11. prune — to trim
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. degree — temperature
  14. prune — to trim
  15. vault — a safe
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. face — to confront
  18. march — music
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. face — part of the head
  21. march — the month
  22. present — there
  23. march — the month
  24. wake — a trail

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