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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. degree — from a university
  5. degree — an amount
  6. fall — to drop
  7. drill — a practice
  8. drill — army training
  9. squash — to crush
  10. capital — a city
  11. roll — a list
  12. fall — the season
  13. lean — thin
  14. squash — the sport
  15. drill — the tool
  16. tear — from crying
  17. capital — money
  18. lean — to bend
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. tear — to rip
  21. tear — from crying
  22. fall — to drop
  23. degree — temperature
  24. lean — to rest against

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