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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. file — a document
  6. race — humankind
  7. degree — from a university
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. mine — for digging
  11. file — a tool
  12. file — a line of people
  13. rush — hurry
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. saw — the tool
  16. degree — temperature
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. degree — an amount
  20. saw — the tool
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. race — a contest
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. race — the arms race

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