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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. mark — a grade
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. tear — from crying
  5. mark — a trace
  6. roll — a cake
  7. hand — in cards
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. stand — for spectators
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. roll — a list
  13. degree — temperature
  14. cell — in biology
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. hand — help
  17. tear — from crying
  18. last — to go on
  19. stand — to bear
  20. tear — to rip
  21. degree — from a university
  22. cell — a phone
  23. last — finally
  24. last — final

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