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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. rule — a law
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. degree — temperature
  6. degree — from a university
  7. mark — a trace
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. bass — the fish
  12. degree — an amount
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. ground — the earth
  16. file — a line of people
  17. file — a document
  18. ground — a position
  19. perch — the fish
  20. bass — low music
  21. rule — government
  22. ground — crushed
  23. mark — a grade
  24. cold — not warm

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