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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 116 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. The tickets are free of ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. bound — certain
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. charge — electricity
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. current — happening now
  8. cold — not warm
  9. current — of water
  10. current — electric
  11. pit — in a race
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bound — tied together
  14. cold — an illness
  15. fork — in a road
  16. pit — a hole
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. bound — obliged
  20. charge — in control
  21. charge — a price
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. patient — a sick person

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