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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. race — a contest
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. march — music
  5. cap — of ice
  6. degree — from a university
  7. cue — a hint
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. cue — a signal
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. march — the month
  12. scale — in music
  13. toast — a drink to someone
  14. march — the month
  15. cue — for pool
  16. toast — bread
  17. race — the arms race
  18. scale — size or range
  19. race — humankind
  20. mine — for digging
  21. cap — a lid
  22. cap — a hat
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. degree — temperature

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