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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. tear — from crying
  3. current — electric
  4. cell — in biology
  5. drill — the tool
  6. drill — army training
  7. drill — a practice
  8. spring — of water
  9. tear — to rip
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cell — a phone
  12. current — of water
  13. spring — a coil
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. spring — the season
  18. tear — from crying
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. cold — not warm
  21. current — happening now
  22. board — to get on
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. board — a committee

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