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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. chest — of your body
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. land — to come down
  5. current — of water
  6. roll — a list
  7. bore — to tire
  8. current — electric
  9. chest — of your body
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. pop — music
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. land — ground
  14. rash — hasty
  15. roll — a cake
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. pop — soda
  18. current — happening now
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. bore — to drill
  21. chest — a box
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. land — a country
  24. rash — a series

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