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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. spring — of water
  3. chest — of your body
  4. bound — tied together
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. spell — letters
  7. chest — a box
  8. spell — magic
  9. bound — obliged
  10. degree — an amount
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. rule — a law
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. bound — certain
  15. degree — from a university
  16. chest — of your body
  17. degree — temperature
  18. spell — a short time
  19. current — electric
  20. spring — a coil
  21. rule — government
  22. current — of water
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. spring — the season

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