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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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  15. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  16. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. key — for a lock
  5. key — in music
  6. file — a line of people
  7. capital — a city
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. capital — money
  10. file — a tool
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. key — the most important part
  13. row — a line
  14. jam — in traffic
  15. jam — a tight spot
  16. jam — to spread on bread
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. file — a document
  19. march — the month
  20. row — to paddle
  21. degree — temperature
  22. degree — an amount
  23. march — music
  24. march — the month

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