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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: tear · degree · race · march · pop · kid · pound · cue

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. pound — a weight
  3. cue — a hint
  4. degree — from a university
  5. tear — from crying
  6. race — a contest
  7. tear — from crying
  8. pop — music
  9. kid — to tease
  10. march — the month
  11. march — music
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. race — the arms race
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. degree — temperature
  17. pop — soda
  18. march — the month
  19. degree — an amount
  20. race — humankind
  21. cue — for pool
  22. tear — to rip
  23. kid — child
  24. cue — a signal

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