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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. pitch — completely
  3. degree — from a university
  4. capital — money
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. capital — a city
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. degree — an amount
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. last — finally
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. row — a line
  14. last — to go on
  15. scale — size or range
  16. last — final
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. row — to paddle
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. scale — in music
  21. bore — to drill
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. degree — temperature

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