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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. land — to come down
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. bore — to drill
  7. wind — moving air
  8. land — a country
  9. land — ground
  10. current — of water
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. bore — to tire
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. chair — a leader
  21. clip — a video
  22. current — happening now
  23. current — electric
  24. dip — to sink

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