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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. degree — an amount
  4. cell — a phone
  5. degree — from a university
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. current — of water
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. cell — in biology
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. dip — to sink
  16. row — a line
  17. date — the fruit
  18. bark — to shout
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. current — electric
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. degree — temperature
  23. current — happening now
  24. row — to paddle

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