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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. club — a group
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. current — happening now
  6. current — electric
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. club — for golf
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. cold — an illness
  12. race — a contest
  13. current — of water
  14. club — for dancing
  15. dip — to sink
  16. shower — rain
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. cold — not warm
  20. mine — for digging
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. race — humankind
  24. race — the arms race

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