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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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. degree — an amount
  3. race — a contest
  4. current — of water
  5. net — after costs
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. last — finally
  8. track — a path
  9. degree — temperature
  10. net — in sport
  11. last — to go on
  12. track — to keep track
  13. race — the arms race
  14. track — a song
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. last — final
  17. current — electric
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. degree — from a university
  20. net — for catching
  21. current — happening now
  22. race — humankind
  23. date — the fruit
  24. date — on the calendar

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