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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. last — finally
  4. race — the arms race
  5. degree — temperature
  6. spell — letters
  7. perch — the fish
  8. degree — an amount
  9. date — the fruit
  10. degree — from a university
  11. spell — a short time
  12. pit — a hole
  13. race — a contest
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. last — final
  17. last — to go on
  18. row — to paddle
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. spell — magic
  22. pit — in a race
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. race — humankind

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