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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 116 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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. wound — an injury
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. current — electric
  6. squash — the sport
  7. drill — the tool
  8. fine — all right
  9. wound — an injury
  10. fine — high quality
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. drill — a practice
  13. kid — to tease
  14. current — of water
  15. cold — an illness
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. kid — child
  18. track — a path
  19. current — happening now
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. squash — to crush
  22. track — a song
  23. drill — army training
  24. cold — not warm

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