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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. mark — a grade
  3. current — happening now
  4. chest — of your body
  5. spell — magic
  6. shower — rain
  7. mark — a trace
  8. current — electric
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. content — happy
  12. shower — to wash
  13. chest — of your body
  14. wound — an injury
  15. spell — letters
  16. clip — to cut
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. spell — a short time
  20. wound — an injury
  21. chest — a box
  22. clip — a video
  23. content — the amount
  24. clip — for paper

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