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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 116 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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. row — to paddle
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. current — happening now
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. row — a line
  8. swing — in golf
  9. key — for a lock
  10. degree — from a university
  11. current — electric
  12. kid — to tease
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. degree — an amount
  15. kid — child
  16. current — of water
  17. swing — music
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. cold — not warm
  20. key — the most important part
  21. key — in music
  22. cold — an illness
  23. degree — temperature
  24. swing — to play on

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