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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. bound — certain
  3. shower — to wash
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. cell — in biology
  6. spring — of water
  7. spring — the season
  8. bound — obliged
  9. bound — tied together
  10. current — of water
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. shower — rain
  13. clip — a video
  14. spring — a coil
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — for paper
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. current — happening now
  21. cell — a phone
  22. content — happy
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. content — the amount

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