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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 put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  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. chair — to sit on
  2. current — electric
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. bulb — for light
  11. present — a gift
  12. ground — crushed
  13. ground — the earth
  14. cold — an illness
  15. current — happening now
  16. chair — a leader
  17. ground — a position
  18. rush — hurry
  19. present — there
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. bulb — for light
  22. cold — not warm
  23. present — the time now
  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