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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. tear — from crying
  3. track — to keep track
  4. fine — all right
  5. cold — an illness
  6. last — final
  7. toast — bread
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. tear — from crying
  10. track — a song
  11. degree — temperature
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. wake — a trail
  14. degree — from a university
  15. last — to go on
  16. last — finally
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. cold — not warm
  19. toast — a drink to someone
  20. degree — an amount
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. toast — the most admired
  23. tear — to rip
  24. track — a path

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