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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. march — the month
  3. last — finally
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. roll — a list
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. roll — a cake
  9. degree — an amount
  10. bark — to shout
  11. march — the month
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. wind — moving air
  14. pound — a weight
  15. last — to go on
  16. march — music
  17. last — final
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wind — moving air
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. degree — temperature
  24. degree — from a university

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