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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. pitch — completely
  3. current — of water
  4. current — happening now
  5. land — to come down
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. kid — child
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. kid — to tease
  10. current — electric
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. degree — temperature
  14. degree — from a university
  15. cold — an illness
  16. degree — an amount
  17. ruler — a monarch
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. cold — not warm
  22. land — a country
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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