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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. last — to go on
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. chip — for betting
  5. spring — a coil
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. current — of water
  8. degree — from a university
  9. cold — an illness
  10. spring — of water
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. spring — the season
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. degree — an amount
  16. saw — the tool
  17. chip — to eat
  18. cold — not warm
  19. degree — temperature
  20. last — finally
  21. dip — to sink
  22. current — electric
  23. current — happening now
  24. last — final

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