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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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  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. squash — to crush
  2. drill — army training
  3. tear — from crying
  4. degree — from a university
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. squash — the sport
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. degree — temperature
  9. mate — to breed
  10. mine — for digging
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. field — a subject
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. rush — hurry
  15. tear — to rip
  16. drill — a practice
  17. field — for sport
  18. field — farmland
  19. mate — a partner
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. tear — from crying
  22. drill — the tool
  23. mate — a friend
  24. degree — an amount

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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