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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. race — a contest
  4. degree — temperature
  5. degree — an amount
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bass — low music
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. race — humankind
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. chip — to eat
  14. race — the arms race
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. land — ground
  17. degree — from a university
  18. stem — to come from
  19. land — to come down
  20. row — to paddle
  21. chip — for betting
  22. land — a country
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. row — a line

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