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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. cold — not warm
  3. plane — a tool
  4. row — a line
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. wax — to grow
  9. content — happy
  10. row — to paddle
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. current — of water
  13. current — happening now
  14. content — the amount
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. cold — an illness
  22. perch — the fish
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. sharp — clever

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