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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 124 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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. current — electric
  3. degree — from a university
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. last — final
  6. bass — the fish
  7. present — a gift
  8. cell — a phone
  9. row — to paddle
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. bass — low music
  12. last — to go on
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. degree — temperature
  15. current — of water
  16. last — finally
  17. fork — in a road
  18. current — happening now
  19. present — the time now
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. cell — in biology
  22. degree — an amount
  23. row — a line
  24. present — there

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