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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. game — a match
  3. current — electric
  4. fine — all right
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pitch — completely
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. game — wild animals
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. current — of water
  13. kid — child
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. spring — of water
  17. spring — a coil
  18. fine — high quality
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. spring — the season
  23. cold — an illness
  24. current — happening now

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