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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. cap — of ice
  3. cold — an illness
  4. saw — the tool
  5. current — happening now
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. cap — a lid
  8. content — happy
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. cap — a hat
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cold — not warm
  14. clip — to cut
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. current — electric
  18. clip — a video
  19. content — the amount
  20. saw — the tool
  21. current — of water
  22. bat — the animal
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. cold — the Cold War

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