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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. squash — the sport
  4. stem — to come from
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. squash — to crush
  7. degree — from a university
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. degree — an amount
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. degree — temperature
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. current — of water
  15. cold — an illness
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. current — electric
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. current — happening now
  20. date — the fruit
  21. lean — to bend
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — not warm
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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