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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bat · land · degree · cell · wake · wave · current · snap

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  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. degree — from a university
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. land — a country
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. wake — a trail
  11. land — to come down
  12. degree — an amount
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. land — ground
  15. current — happening now
  16. bat — the animal
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. cell — a phone
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. current — electric
  21. snap — to click
  22. cell — in biology
  23. degree — temperature
  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