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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. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  2. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — to rule out
  2. current — happening now
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — for sport
  5. root — of a word
  6. rule — a law
  7. rule — government
  8. file — a tool
  9. rash — hasty
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. current — electric
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. field — farmland
  14. file — a document
  15. root — of a plant
  16. file — a line of people
  17. clip — to cut
  18. mine — for digging
  19. root — the cause
  20. rash — a series
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — for paper
  24. current — of water

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