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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. spring — a coil
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. spring — of water
  10. cold — not warm
  11. spring — the season
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. current — happening now
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. pitch — completely
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. rush — hurry
  23. current — of water
  24. bark — to shout

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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