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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. current — electric
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. field — a subject
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. wake — a trail
  9. mine — for digging
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. swing — to play on
  12. current — of water
  13. current — happening now
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. wound — an injury
  18. swing — music
  19. scale — in music
  20. field — for sport
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. scale — size or range
  23. field — farmland
  24. swing — in golf

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