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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: march · land · row · degree · tear · kid · sharp · deal

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. row — a line
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. march — the month
  5. tear — from crying
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. march — music
  8. deal — to handle
  9. kid — to tease
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. tear — from crying
  12. sharp — clever
  13. land — ground
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. land — a country
  16. degree — from a university
  17. march — the month
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. kid — child
  20. land — to come down
  21. degree — temperature
  22. row — to paddle
  23. degree — an amount
  24. sharp — with an edge

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