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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 will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. cold — not warm
  3. degree — an amount
  4. sharp — clever
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. root — the cause
  7. march — music
  8. degree — temperature
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. march — the month
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. pit — in a race
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. pit — a hole
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. root — of a plant
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. cold — an illness
  21. degree — from a university
  22. root — of a word
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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