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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. shower — to wash
  3. shower — rain
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. wind — moving air
  6. current — electric
  7. current — of water
  8. board — to get on
  9. field — a subject
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — what's left
  12. field — farmland
  13. chest — a box
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. field — for sport
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. rest — a break
  18. chest — of your body
  19. board — a committee
  20. current — happening now
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — a video
  23. wind — moving air
  24. chest — of your body

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