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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. cold — not warm
  3. key — the most important part
  4. board — a committee
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. cell — a phone
  7. board — to get on
  8. degree — from a university
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. game — wild animals
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. current — electric
  13. cell — in biology
  14. current — of water
  15. degree — temperature
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. mate — to breed
  19. key — in music
  20. current — happening now
  21. mate — a partner
  22. key — for a lock
  23. degree — an amount
  24. game — a match

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