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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. current — of water
  4. degree — from a university
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. bore — to drill
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. current — happening now
  9. clip — a video
  10. fork — in a road
  11. degree — temperature
  12. mine — for digging
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. court — of law
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — for paper
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. court — of a king
  20. court — for sport
  21. degree — an amount
  22. bore — to tire
  23. date — the fruit
  24. current — electric

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