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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. can — a tin
  3. current — happening now
  4. shower — rain
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — a box
  7. field — a subject
  8. can — a tin
  9. field — farmland
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. chest — of your body
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. branch — a division
  16. kid — to tease
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. current — of water
  19. can — to be able to
  20. shower — to wash
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. field — for sport
  23. cold — not warm
  24. kid — child

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