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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. shower — to wash
  3. bat — the animal
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. degree — temperature
  6. march — music
  7. key — in music
  8. ball — a great time
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. key — the most important part
  12. ball — a dance
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. march — the month
  17. shower — rain
  18. pit — in a race
  19. key — for a lock
  20. pit — a hole
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. march — the month
  23. degree — an amount
  24. degree — from a university

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