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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. key — the most important part
  3. degree — an amount
  4. land — ground
  5. rush — hurry
  6. degree — temperature
  7. spell — letters
  8. file — a line of people
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. last — finally
  12. land — to come down
  13. degree — from a university
  14. board — to get on
  15. spell — a short time
  16. file — a tool
  17. last — to go on
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. board — a committee
  20. key — in music
  21. file — a document
  22. key — for a lock
  23. spell — magic
  24. last — final

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