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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. wind — moving air
  3. clip — to cut
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. race — humankind
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. current — of water
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. bore — to drill
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — a video
  15. current — electric
  16. race — the arms race
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. mine — for digging
  21. race — a contest
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. wind — moving air
  24. current — happening now

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