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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. cell — in biology
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. bore — to drill
  6. bore — to tire
  7. cell — a phone
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. kid — to tease
  11. current — electric
  12. sharp — clever
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. bat — the animal
  15. cold — not warm
  16. kid — child
  17. current — of water
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bat — for baseball

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