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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. degree — an amount
  3. degree — from a university
  4. march — music
  5. file — a tool
  6. game — a match
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. degree — temperature
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. shower — to wash
  11. march — the month
  12. shower — rain
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. file — a line of people
  15. current — electric
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. file — a document
  18. game — wild animals
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. march — the month
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. wake — a trail
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. current — of water

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