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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 116 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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. fall — to drop
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. fall — the season
  7. cell — a phone
  8. capital — money
  9. sharp — clever
  10. degree — an amount
  11. degree — temperature
  12. capital — a city
  13. last — finally
  14. cell — in biology
  15. pit — in a race
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. last — to go on
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. degree — from a university
  20. fall — to drop
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. perch — the fish
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. pit — a hole

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