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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cap — of ice
  4. wake — a trail
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wind — moving air
  7. current — electric
  8. current — of water
  9. shower — to wash
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. pop — music
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. cap — a lid
  14. shower — rain
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. current — happening now
  17. pop — soda
  18. cold — an illness
  19. pop — to visit
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. cold — the Cold War

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