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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. fork — in a road
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. track — a path
  5. file — a document
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. track — a song
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. track — to keep track
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. file — a line of people
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. file — a tool
  15. current — happening now
  16. cold — not warm
  17. court — of law
  18. current — electric
  19. game — a match
  20. court — for sport
  21. game — wild animals
  22. court — of a king
  23. current — of water
  24. fork — a garden tool

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