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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: ground · degree · last · date · current · club · chest · shower

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. chest — of your body
  3. last — final
  4. ground — the earth
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. last — finally
  7. current — of water
  8. degree — an amount
  9. last — to go on
  10. current — happening now
  11. club — a group
  12. ground — a position
  13. degree — from a university
  14. club — for dancing
  15. chest — a box
  16. club — for golf
  17. shower — to wash
  18. ground — crushed
  19. degree — temperature
  20. date — the fruit
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. chest — of your body
  24. current — electric

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