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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. cold — not warm
  3. stand — to bear
  4. current — electric
  5. season — of the year
  6. cold — an illness
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. current — happening now
  10. tear — from crying
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. tear — to rip
  13. bat — the animal
  14. can — a tin
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wound — an injury
  18. stand — on your feet
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. tear — from crying
  21. can — to be able to
  22. can — a tin
  23. season — in sport
  24. stand — for spectators

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