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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. spell — letters
  3. spell — a short time
  4. clip — to cut
  5. march — music
  6. clip — a video
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. current — of water
  9. court — of law
  10. court — for sport
  11. spell — magic
  12. current — happening now
  13. clip — for paper
  14. march — the month
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. stock — goods
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. wound — an injury
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. wound — an injury
  22. stock — shares
  23. march — the month
  24. court — of a king

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