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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. land — to come down
  4. file — a line of people
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. current — electric
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. cold — an illness
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. current — happening now
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. root — of a word
  13. file — a tool
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. file — a document
  16. cold — not warm
  17. root — of a plant
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. root — the cause
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. land — a country
  22. land — ground
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. branch — a division

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