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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. degree — temperature
  5. march — the month
  6. staff — a stick
  7. march — music
  8. cell — a phone
  9. degree — from a university
  10. content — happy
  11. content — the amount
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. current — happening now
  15. staff — employees
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. current — electric
  18. wax — to grow
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. march — the month
  21. cell — in biology
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. staff — employees
  24. current — of water

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