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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. march — music
  3. march — the month
  4. ground — a position
  5. degree — an amount
  6. perch — the fish
  7. tear — from crying
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. snap — to click
  12. march — the month
  13. degree — from a university
  14. sharp — clever
  15. tear — to rip
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. ground — the earth
  21. tear — from crying
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. degree — temperature
  24. perch — for a bird

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