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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. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. wind — moving air
  3. stand — to bear
  4. current — electric
  5. spring — the season
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. current — of water
  10. ball — a great time
  11. spring — of water
  12. spring — a coil
  13. mine — for digging
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. ball — a dance
  17. clip — a video
  18. wind — moving air
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. current — happening now
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. cold — an illness
  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