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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. rule — government
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. current — happening now
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. staff — employees
  7. branch — a division
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. face — to point toward
  12. current — electric
  13. rule — a law
  14. current — of water
  15. face — to confront
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. cold — not warm
  19. degree — temperature
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — an amount
  22. staff — a stick
  23. face — part of the head
  24. cold — an illness

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