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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. When will it ________________ you to start?
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  7. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. suit — to fit
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. degree — an amount
  4. file — a document
  5. cold — not warm
  6. suit — in cards
  7. suit — clothes
  8. race — humankind
  9. cell — a phone
  10. file — a line of people
  11. degree — from a university
  12. deal — to handle
  13. cell — in biology
  14. file — a tool
  15. net — for catching
  16. degree — temperature
  17. race — a contest
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. net — in sport
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. race — the arms race
  23. cold — an illness
  24. net — after costs

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