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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. cold — not warm
  3. net — for catching
  4. degree — from a university
  5. ground — the earth
  6. degree — an amount
  7. cold — an illness
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. ground — crushed
  10. net — after costs
  11. board — to get on
  12. shower — to wash
  13. shower — rain
  14. current — happening now
  15. net — in sport
  16. board — a committee
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. current — electric
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. degree — temperature
  23. current — of water
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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