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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. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — a stone
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. capital — money
  4. pop — soda
  5. file — a document
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. pop — to visit
  9. degree — temperature
  10. file — a line of people
  11. track — a path
  12. degree — an amount
  13. track — a song
  14. pop — music
  15. rock — music
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. file — a tool
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. track — to keep track
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. capital — a city
  23. cold — not warm
  24. degree — from a university

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