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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. chip — to eat
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. swing — music
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. season — of the year
  9. current — of water
  10. track — a song
  11. cold — not warm
  12. wind — moving air
  13. track — a path
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. season — in sport
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. swing — to play on
  18. cold — an illness
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. chip — for betting
  22. current — electric
  23. swing — in golf
  24. current — happening now

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