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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. row — a line
  5. current — happening now
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. last — finally
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. game — a match
  10. staff — a stick
  11. last — final
  12. game — wild animals
  13. last — to go on
  14. staff — employees
  15. staff — employees
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. current — electric
  18. cold — not warm
  19. row — to paddle
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. fork — in a road
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. current — of water
  24. cold — an illness

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