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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 120 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 · degree · key · pound · bat · tear · chest · fork

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bat — the animal
  3. chest — a box
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. tear — to rip
  6. key — the most important part
  7. key — in music
  8. march — music
  9. fork — in a road
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. chest — of your body
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. degree — temperature
  14. degree — from a university
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. pound — a weight
  18. chest — of your body
  19. march — the month
  20. tear — from crying
  21. march — the month
  22. key — for a lock
  23. degree — an amount
  24. pound — for dogs

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