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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. mine — for digging
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. key — in music
  7. degree — from a university
  8. band — a music group
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. capital — money
  11. cell — in biology
  12. capital — a city
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. cell — a phone
  16. key — for a lock
  17. degree — an amount
  18. band — a ring
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. degree — temperature
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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