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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. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — a tight spot
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. drill — army training
  4. race — the arms race
  5. race — humankind
  6. cold — an illness
  7. shower — rain
  8. current — electric
  9. drill — the tool
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. field — a subject
  12. race — a contest
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. current — happening now
  15. shower — to wash
  16. cold — not warm
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. drill — a practice
  19. current — of water
  20. field — for sport
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. field — farmland

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