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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. bass — the fish
  3. charge — a price
  4. spring — the season
  5. spring — a coil
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. charge — electricity
  9. current — electric
  10. content — happy
  11. shower — to wash
  12. content — the amount
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. bass — low music
  17. shower — rain
  18. spring — of water
  19. current — happening now
  20. charge — in control
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. current — of water

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