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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. current — electric
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. rash — a series
  7. degree — temperature
  8. squash — the sport
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. hand — help
  11. rash — hasty
  12. bat — the animal
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. cold — an illness
  15. squash — to crush
  16. plane — a tool
  17. current — happening now
  18. cold — not warm
  19. current — of water
  20. hand — in cards
  21. degree — an amount
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. bat — for baseball

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