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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Where did you ________________ them?
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. march — the month
  3. vault — a safe
  4. mug — a face
  5. rest — what's left
  6. degree — from a university
  7. march — music
  8. sharp — clever
  9. rest — what's left
  10. mug — a cup
  11. wound — an injury
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. degree — temperature
  17. rest — a break
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. mug — to rob
  20. march — the month
  21. degree — an amount
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. wound — an injury

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