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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. current — of water
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. degree — from a university
  6. current — electric
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. degree — temperature
  9. current — happening now
  10. degree — an amount
  11. prune — to trim
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. mine — for digging
  14. court — of law
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. last — to go on
  17. court — of a king
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. bark — to shout
  20. content — the amount
  21. last — finally
  22. court — for sport
  23. last — final
  24. prune — to trim

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