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

Word bank: squash · race · rush · root · rule · wake · degree · file

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. rush — hurry
  3. race — a contest
  4. race — humankind
  5. file — a line of people
  6. degree — an amount
  7. wake — a trail
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. squash — to crush
  10. rule — government
  11. root — of a word
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. file — a document
  14. degree — temperature
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. root — of a plant
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. race — the arms race
  20. root — the cause
  21. rule — a law
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. squash — the sport
  24. file — a tool

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