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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 120 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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. last — to go on
  3. pit — in a race
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. land — a country
  6. land — to come down
  7. club — for dancing
  8. bound — certain
  9. degree — an amount
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. land — ground
  13. degree — temperature
  14. degree — from a university
  15. clip — for paper
  16. pit — a hole
  17. clip — a video
  18. last — final
  19. bound — obliged
  20. last — finally
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. club — a group
  23. clip — to cut
  24. bound — tied together

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