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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: key · board · rule · land · degree · cold · last · tear

  1. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. tear — from crying
  3. rule — government
  4. degree — an amount
  5. key — in music
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. degree — temperature
  8. last — to go on
  9. land — to come down
  10. tear — from crying
  11. cold — an illness
  12. key — the most important part
  13. degree — from a university
  14. land — ground
  15. cold — not warm
  16. key — for a lock
  17. board — to get on
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. land — a country
  20. rule — a law
  21. board — a committee
  22. last — final
  23. tear — to rip
  24. last — finally

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