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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. season — of the year
  3. degree — from a university
  4. march — the month
  5. present — a gift
  6. land — ground
  7. present — there
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. hand — help
  10. bat — the animal
  11. march — music
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. hand — in cards
  14. march — the month
  15. degree — an amount
  16. land — to come down
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. season — in sport
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. present — the time now
  21. land — a country
  22. degree — temperature
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. nail — for a hammer

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