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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 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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. current — happening now
  3. foot — a measure
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. wind — moving air
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. spell — letters
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — an illness
  11. current — of water
  12. wind — moving air
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. spell — magic
  15. degree — an amount
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. current — electric
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. wax — to grow
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. spell — a short time
  24. degree — temperature

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