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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. file — a tool
  3. file — a line of people
  4. degree — from a university
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. file — a document
  7. squash — to crush
  8. cold — not warm
  9. root — the cause
  10. squash — the sport
  11. cold — an illness
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. degree — temperature
  16. root — of a word
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. current — of water
  19. root — of a plant
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. current — happening now
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. current — electric
  24. pitch — completely

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