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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. game — wild animals
  4. rest — what's left
  5. cold — not warm
  6. stock — shares
  7. key — for a lock
  8. ground — the earth
  9. game — a match
  10. ground — crushed
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. degree — from a university
  13. key — in music
  14. rest — a break
  15. cold — an illness
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. vault — a safe
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. rest — what's left
  20. degree — an amount
  21. degree — temperature
  22. stock — goods
  23. vault — an arched ceiling
  24. ground — a position

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