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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 116 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 your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  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. bowl — to roll
  2. object — to protest
  3. current — electric
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. file — a document
  7. file — a line of people
  8. chair — a leader
  9. current — happening now
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. degree — an amount
  13. field — for sport
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. sharp — clever
  16. field — farmland
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. field — a subject
  19. degree — from a university
  20. file — a tool
  21. current — of water
  22. object — an aim
  23. object — a thing
  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