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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. hand — help
  4. last — to go on
  5. march — the month
  6. hand — in cards
  7. degree — from a university
  8. pit — in a race
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. cold — an illness
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. degree — temperature
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. key — in music
  16. march — music
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. degree — an amount
  19. last — final
  20. key — the most important part
  21. last — finally
  22. key — for a lock
  23. cold — not warm
  24. march — the month

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