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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I can't ________________ this cold.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. hand — help
  3. cold — not warm
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. cold — an illness
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. band — a music group
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. bulb — for light
  12. current — of water
  13. current — electric
  14. mine — for digging
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. plane — a tool
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. stand — to bear
  21. bulb — for light
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. hand — in cards
  24. band — a ring

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