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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. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. When will it ________________ you to start?
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — in cards
  2. degree — from a university
  3. firm — decided
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. scale — in music
  6. firm — a company
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. row — to paddle
  9. bear — the animal
  10. mine — for digging
  11. cold — an illness
  12. firm — steady
  13. degree — temperature
  14. suit — to fit
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. suit — clothes
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. degree — an amount
  22. scale — size or range
  23. row — a line
  24. bear — the animal

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