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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 116 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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. degree — from a university
  3. cell — a phone
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bank — of a river
  6. cell — in biology
  7. degree — an amount
  8. degree — temperature
  9. current — electric
  10. bank — for money
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. court — of a king
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. vault — a safe
  15. court — for sport
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. cold — not warm
  18. court — of law
  19. current — happening now
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. bank — for money
  22. craft — a skill
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. current — of water

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