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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. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. land — a country
  4. bat — the animal
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. degree — from a university
  7. hand — in cards
  8. pop — to visit
  9. pop — music
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. bore — to tire
  12. land — to come down
  13. pop — soda
  14. degree — an amount
  15. file — a line of people
  16. current — of water
  17. hand — help
  18. bore — to drill
  19. file — a document
  20. land — ground
  21. current — electric
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. file — a tool
  24. degree — temperature

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