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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cap — a lid
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. field — farmland
  6. wound — an injury
  7. field — a subject
  8. cold — not warm
  9. field — for sport
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cap — of ice
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. wound — an injury
  15. cell — a phone
  16. ball — a great time
  17. current — electric
  18. current — happening now
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. ball — a dance
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. cap — a hat
  23. cell — in biology
  24. patient — a sick person

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