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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. wind — moving air
  5. spell — a short time
  6. tear — from crying
  7. kick — in football
  8. spell — letters
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. kid — child
  11. spell — magic
  12. tear — to rip
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — a video
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. wind — moving air
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. current — happening now
  20. tear — from crying
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. kid — to tease
  23. current — of water
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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