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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. band — a music group
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. current — electric
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. current — of water
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. saw — the tool
  16. current — happening now
  17. snap — to click
  18. band — a ring
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. tear — from crying
  21. saw — the tool
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. tear — to rip
  24. tear — from crying

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