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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. drill — the tool
  4. degree — an amount
  5. cold — an illness
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. degree — temperature
  8. current — electric
  9. drill — army training
  10. pop — to visit
  11. cold — not warm
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. pop — music
  15. pop — soda
  16. drill — a practice
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. current — happening now
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. deal — to handle
  22. degree — from a university
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. cold — the Cold War

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