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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: staff · pop · tear · row · degree · toast · fork · game

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. staff — a stick
  3. degree — an amount
  4. staff — employees
  5. pop — music
  6. pop — soda
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. fork — in a road
  11. row — a line
  12. toast — bread
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — from crying
  15. toast — the most admired
  16. game — wild animals
  17. staff — employees
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. tear — to rip
  20. toast — a drink to someone
  21. degree — from a university
  22. degree — temperature
  23. pop — to visit
  24. row — to paddle

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