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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. kid — child
  3. drill — a practice
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — not warm
  6. vault — a safe
  7. drill — army training
  8. current — electric
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. wound — an injury
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. band — a music group
  13. drill — the tool
  14. band — a ring
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. current — happening now
  20. land — to come down
  21. land — a country
  22. land — ground
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. cold — the Cold War

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