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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. cold — not warm
  3. wax — to grow
  4. chair — a leader
  5. degree — temperature
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. court — of a king
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. court — of law
  11. degree — from a university
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cold — an illness
  15. prune — to trim
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. current — of water
  18. degree — an amount
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. court — for sport
  23. wake — a trail
  24. current — happening now

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