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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 116 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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. season — in sport
  4. cold — an illness
  5. file — a tool
  6. band — a music group
  7. current — of water
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. band — a ring
  10. fork — in a road
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. file — a line of people
  13. mate — to breed
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. mate — a friend
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. current — happening now
  19. mate — a partner
  20. season — of the year
  21. file — a document
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. plane — a tool

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