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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 120 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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  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. cabinet — ministers
  2. net — for catching
  3. degree — from a university
  4. drill — a practice
  5. land — to come down
  6. last — to go on
  7. last — finally
  8. chip — to eat
  9. tear — to rip
  10. drill — army training
  11. net — after costs
  12. degree — temperature
  13. land — ground
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. land — a country
  16. degree — an amount
  17. drill — the tool
  18. chip — for betting
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. net — in sport
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  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