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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 116 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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. game — wild animals
  3. cold — not warm
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. rush — hurry
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. cold — an illness
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. game — a match
  14. chip — to eat
  15. current — happening now
  16. current — electric
  17. current — of water
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. chip — for betting
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. game — a kind of play

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