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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. current — electric
  3. court — of a king
  4. game — a match
  5. cold — an illness
  6. clip — a video
  7. wake — a trail
  8. cold — not warm
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. game — wild animals
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. squash — the sport
  13. squash — to crush
  14. current — happening now
  15. present — a gift
  16. present — the time now
  17. present — there
  18. court — for sport
  19. court — of law
  20. clip — to cut
  21. clip — for paper
  22. current — of water
  23. squash — the vegetable
  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