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

Word bank: march · bay · press · drill · degree · tear

  1. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. My mare is ________________ in color.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. bay — to keep at bay
  2. tear — from crying
  3. press — a publisher
  4. march — the month
  5. degree — an amount
  6. bay — a horse colour
  7. march — music
  8. tear — from crying
  9. drill — the tool
  10. tear — to rip
  11. degree — temperature
  12. march — the month
  13. press — newspapers
  14. degree — from a university
  15. bay — a part of the sea
  16. drill — army training
  17. drill — a practice
  18. press — to push

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