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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cell · degree · march · pop · tear · rash

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. cell — in biology
  3. march — the month
  4. degree — temperature
  5. tear — from crying
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. march — the month
  8. pop — music
  9. rash — hasty
  10. cell — a phone
  11. pop — to visit
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. march — music
  14. degree — an amount
  15. tear — to rip
  16. degree — from a university
  17. rash — a series
  18. pop — soda

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