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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. current — electric
  3. current — happening now
  4. bat — the animal
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. row — to paddle
  11. dip — to sink
  12. mine — for digging
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. row — a line
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. fork — in a road
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. cold — an illness
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. fork — to eat with

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