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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: current · snap · drill · cold · degree · bore · dip · land

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. land — a country
  4. snap — to click
  5. degree — temperature
  6. current — of water
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — an illness
  9. degree — from a university
  10. bore — to drill
  11. dip — to sink
  12. land — to come down
  13. land — ground
  14. drill — army training
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. drill — a practice
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. drill — the tool
  19. current — happening now
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. bore — to tire
  23. dip — to dunk
  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