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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 116 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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. last — final
  3. degree — from a university
  4. race — the arms race
  5. face — to confront
  6. lean — to bend
  7. cell — a phone
  8. face — to point toward
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. last — finally
  11. ground — a position
  12. race — humankind
  13. ground — crushed
  14. ground — the earth
  15. fine — high quality
  16. last — to go on
  17. face — part of the head
  18. race — a contest
  19. lean — thin
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. degree — temperature
  22. cell — in biology
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. degree — an amount

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