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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. content — the amount
  3. last — finally
  4. cap — a lid
  5. current — electric
  6. field — farmland
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. cap — a hat
  9. rule — government
  10. rule — a law
  11. content — happy
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. degree — from a university
  15. cap — of ice
  16. current — happening now
  17. current — of water
  18. last — to go on
  19. degree — temperature
  20. field — for sport
  21. stand — to bear
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. last — final
  24. field — a subject

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