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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. current — electric
  3. vault — in gymnastics
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. vault — a safe
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. current — happening now
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. squash — the sport
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. sharp — clever
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. squash — to crush
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — an illness
  19. current — of water
  20. wind — moving air
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. wind — moving air
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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