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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. roll — a cake
  3. spring — of water
  4. roll — a list
  5. fall — to drop
  6. swing — to play on
  7. swing — in golf
  8. spring — a coil
  9. tube — a container
  10. spring — the season
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. fall — to drop
  14. cold — not warm
  15. current — happening now
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. current — electric
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. swing — music
  21. dip — to sink
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. fall — the season
  24. tube — the underground

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