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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. game — wild animals
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. current — happening now
  7. squash — to crush
  8. sharp — clever
  9. wax — to grow
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — not warm
  12. squash — the sport
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. game — a match
  15. face — to confront
  16. rash — a series
  17. rash — hasty
  18. face — to point toward
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. current — electric
  22. face — part of the head
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. cold — an illness

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