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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  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. content — happy
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. current — electric
  4. content — the amount
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. wound — an injury
  10. land — a country
  11. wake — a trail
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. cold — an illness
  15. court — for sport
  16. cold — not warm
  17. land — to come down
  18. current — happening now
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. court — of law
  21. wound — an injury
  22. land — ground
  23. court — of a king
  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