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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. cold — not warm
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. current — electric
  5. file — a document
  6. last — to go on
  7. current — of water
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. stock — shares
  12. cold — an illness
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. last — finally
  15. shower — to wash
  16. current — happening now
  17. shower — rain
  18. stock — goods
  19. last — final
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. file — a tool
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. file — a line of people
  24. date — the fruit

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