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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. file — a document
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. file — a tool
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — an illness
  7. file — a line of people
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. board — a committee
  10. dip — to sink
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. cell — a phone
  13. track — to keep track
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. cell — in biology
  16. board — to get on
  17. ground — crushed
  18. degree — an amount
  19. degree — temperature
  20. ground — the earth
  21. ground — a position
  22. track — a path
  23. cold — not warm
  24. track — a song

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