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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. wound — an injury
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. current — electric
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. spell — letters
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. wound — an injury
  10. spell — magic
  11. current — happening now
  12. current — of water
  13. rush — hurry
  14. bat — the animal
  15. track — a path
  16. content — the amount
  17. spell — a short time
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. track — a song
  20. content — happy
  21. capital — a city
  22. capital — money
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. bat — in an idiom

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