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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. current — electric
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. field — for sport
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — to drop
  7. cold — an illness
  8. hand — in cards
  9. fall — the season
  10. field — a subject
  11. field — farmland
  12. file — a tool
  13. current — happening now
  14. cold — not warm
  15. file — a document
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. content — the amount
  18. pass — a permit
  19. hand — help
  20. current — of water
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. file — a line of people
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. content — happy

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