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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. march — the month
  3. cell — a phone
  4. degree — an amount
  5. face — part of the head
  6. game — a match
  7. cell — in biology
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. march — music
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. degree — from a university
  13. deal — to handle
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. face — to point toward
  16. pound — a weight
  17. degree — temperature
  18. game — wild animals
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. row — a line
  21. face — to confront
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. row — to paddle
  24. pound — to hit hard

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