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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 124 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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  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. land — to come down
  2. board — a committee
  3. clip — a video
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. charge — in control
  6. current — of water
  7. field — a subject
  8. clip — to cut
  9. current — electric
  10. charge — electricity
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. race — the arms race
  13. land — ground
  14. clip — for paper
  15. race — humankind
  16. charge — a price
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. race — a contest
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. land — a country
  21. field — farmland
  22. board — to get on
  23. field — for sport
  24. current — happening now

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