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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. march — music
  3. toast — bread
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. degree — an amount
  7. toast — a drink to someone
  8. face — part of the head
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. face — to confront
  12. face — to point toward
  13. content — happy
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. snap — to click
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. march — the month
  19. degree — temperature
  20. march — the month
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. content — the amount
  24. calf — a young 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