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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. swing — to play on
  4. current — happening now
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. stick — to attach or keep to
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. wind — moving air
  9. swing — music
  10. game — a match
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. game — wild animals
  13. current — electric
  14. current — of water
  15. wind — moving air
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. mine — for digging
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. swing — in golf
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. mine — an explosive

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