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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 120 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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The tickets are free of ________________.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. field — farmland
  3. bark — to shout
  4. clip — to cut
  5. cold — not warm
  6. current — of water
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. current — electric
  9. current — happening now
  10. sharp — clever
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. field — a subject
  13. charge — electricity
  14. cold — an illness
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. clip — a video
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. clip — for paper
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. field — for sport
  21. charge — in control
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. charge — a price
  24. plane — 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