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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: degree · last · cabinet · tear · date · rule

  1. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. degree — an amount
  3. rule — a law
  4. last — finally
  5. date — the fruit
  6. last — to go on
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. tear — to rip
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. degree — temperature
  12. cabinet — a cupboard
  13. tear — from crying
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. degree — from a university
  16. tear — from crying
  17. rule — government
  18. last — final

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