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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. rush — hurry
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. wound — an injury
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. saw — the tool
  9. jam — a tight spot
  10. clip — to cut
  11. saw — the tool
  12. current — of water
  13. land — ground
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. bat — the animal
  17. jam — in traffic
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. land — a country
  21. current — electric
  22. current — happening now
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — for paper

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