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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. net — after costs
  3. shower — to wash
  4. march — the month
  5. press — to push
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. current — of water
  9. net — for catching
  10. march — music
  11. land — to come down
  12. land — a country
  13. net — in sport
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. hand — in cards
  16. capital — a city
  17. hand — help
  18. press — newspapers
  19. press — a publisher
  20. march — the month
  21. shower — rain
  22. current — happening now
  23. capital — money
  24. land — ground

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