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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. drill — the tool
  3. current — electric
  4. cap — a hat
  5. cap — a lid
  6. cap — of ice
  7. bulb — for light
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. snap — to click
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. drill — army training
  15. bat — the animal
  16. drill — a practice
  17. cold — not warm
  18. plane — a tool
  19. current — happening now
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. current — of water
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bulb — for light

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