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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. roll — a list
  3. file — a line of people
  4. content — happy
  5. current — electric
  6. current — happening now
  7. roll — a cake
  8. cell — a phone
  9. tear — from crying
  10. land — ground
  11. tear — from crying
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. current — of water
  14. degree — temperature
  15. file — a tool
  16. cell — in biology
  17. tear — to rip
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. land — to come down
  20. file — a document
  21. land — a country
  22. degree — from a university
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. degree — an amount

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