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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. My mare is ________________ in color.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. degree — from a university
  3. scale — size or range
  4. file — a line of people
  5. wind — moving air
  6. land — to come down
  7. degree — an amount
  8. wake — a trail
  9. degree — temperature
  10. land — a country
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. scale — in music
  13. snap — to click
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. bay — a horse colour
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. land — ground
  18. file — a tool
  19. wind — moving air
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. bay — a part of the sea
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. file — a document
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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