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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. file — a tool
  3. last — finally
  4. last — final
  5. degree — an amount
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. cue — a signal
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. cue — a hint
  10. degree — from a university
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. mine — for digging
  14. file — a document
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. kid — to tease
  19. kid — child
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. cue — for pool
  22. degree — temperature
  23. stem — to come from
  24. file — a line of people

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