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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 120 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 like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. current — electric
  4. current — happening now
  5. spring — the season
  6. field — a subject
  7. race — a contest
  8. race — the arms race
  9. field — for sport
  10. dip — to sink
  11. spring — of water
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. spring — a coil
  14. drill — the tool
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. drill — army training
  17. race — humankind
  18. bat — the animal
  19. cap — a lid
  20. cap — a hat
  21. cap — of ice
  22. field — farmland
  23. drill — a practice
  24. current — of water

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