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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. last — finally
  4. bear — the animal
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. file — a tool
  7. land — ground
  8. land — a country
  9. clip — to cut
  10. land — to come down
  11. current — electric
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. track — a path
  14. clip — a video
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. track — to keep track
  17. file — a line of people
  18. last — to go on
  19. file — a document
  20. current — happening now
  21. clip — for paper
  22. bear — the animal
  23. last — final
  24. track — a song

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