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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. mine — for digging
  3. staff — employees
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. pop — soda
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. current — electric
  11. staff — employees
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. cell — in biology
  14. current — happening now
  15. wound — an injury
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cell — a phone
  18. pop — music
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. current — of water
  21. wound — an injury
  22. staff — a stick
  23. pop — to visit
  24. bark — to shout

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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