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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 120 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. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — in a road
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — to cut
  4. current — happening now
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. swing — music
  7. clip — for paper
  8. cold — an illness
  9. current — electric
  10. root — of a plant
  11. cold — not warm
  12. root — of a word
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. swing — in golf
  16. swing — to play on
  17. root — the cause
  18. current — of water
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. cell — in biology
  21. cell — a phone
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. pitcher — a jug

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