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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. cold — an illness
  4. root — of a word
  5. sharp — clever
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. cold — not warm
  8. fall — to drop
  9. degree — from a university
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. root — of a plant
  13. rash — a series
  14. rock — music
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. root — the cause
  19. degree — an amount
  20. fall — the season
  21. rock — a stone
  22. fall — to drop
  23. degree — temperature
  24. cold — the Cold War

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