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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. degree — from a university
  3. mug — to rob
  4. spring — a coil
  5. prune — to trim
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. roll — a cake
  8. key — for a lock
  9. mug — a cup
  10. march — the month
  11. key — in music
  12. club — a group
  13. mug — a face
  14. club — for dancing
  15. degree — temperature
  16. prune — to trim
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. degree — an amount
  19. club — for golf
  20. march — the month
  21. spring — of water
  22. spring — the season
  23. roll — a list
  24. march — music

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