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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  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. last — to go on
  2. cold — not warm
  3. land — a country
  4. pit — a hole
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. land — to come down
  7. last — finally
  8. shower — to wash
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. pit — in a race
  13. shower — rain
  14. land — ground
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. degree — temperature
  17. cap — of ice
  18. last — final
  19. cap — a lid
  20. cap — a hat
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. degree — an amount
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  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