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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. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Where did you ________________ them?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a cup
  2. degree — from a university
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. mug — a face
  5. cold — an illness
  6. file — a line of people
  7. file — a document
  8. degree — temperature
  9. degree — an amount
  10. wake — a trail
  11. prune — to trim
  12. board — to get on
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. prune — to trim
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. mug — to rob
  19. cold — not warm
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. file — a tool
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. bat — the animal
  24. board — a committee

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