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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. bat — the animal
  3. band — a ring
  4. degree — temperature
  5. current — electric
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. spring — the season
  9. degree — from a university
  10. content — happy
  11. dip — to sink
  12. snap — to click
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. current — happening now
  15. band — a music group
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. spring — a coil
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. content — the amount
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. current — of water
  22. degree — an amount
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. spring — of water

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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