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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. degree — temperature
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. rest — what's left
  6. current — happening now
  7. field — a subject
  8. file — a tool
  9. field — farmland
  10. current — of water
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bark — to shout
  13. race — humankind
  14. race — the arms race
  15. wind — moving air
  16. degree — an amount
  17. degree — from a university
  18. file — a document
  19. rest — a break
  20. file — a line of people
  21. field — for sport
  22. rest — what's left
  23. race — a contest
  24. wind — moving air

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