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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. current — of water
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. current — electric
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wind — moving air
  10. cold — an illness
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. current — happening now
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. band — a ring
  20. kick — in football
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. plane — a tool
  23. band — a music group
  24. trunk — of a car

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