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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. roll — a cake
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. degree — temperature
  5. march — the month
  6. fork — in a road
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. roll — a list
  10. drill — army training
  11. toast — a drink to someone
  12. degree — an amount
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. drill — the tool
  17. bear — the animal
  18. degree — from a university
  19. scale — size or range
  20. scale — in music
  21. march — the month
  22. drill — a practice
  23. march — music
  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