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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. roll — a cake
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. current — electric
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. current — of water
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. rock — a stone
  12. stem — to come from
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. cold — an illness
  15. game — a match
  16. cold — not warm
  17. present — there
  18. present — the time now
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. roll — a list
  22. rock — music
  23. current — happening now
  24. game — wild animals

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