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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. rest — what's left
  3. spring — a coil
  4. rest — what's left
  5. current — happening now
  6. game — a match
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. current — electric
  9. current — of water
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spring — of water
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. cold — not warm
  18. tube — a container
  19. bat — the animal
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. rush — hurry
  22. rest — a break
  23. spring — the season
  24. bat — for baseball

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