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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. current — electric
  3. clip — to cut
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. field — for sport
  6. bat — the animal
  7. field — farmland
  8. fall — the season
  9. clip — for paper
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. fall — to drop
  12. wake — a trail
  13. fall — to drop
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. clip — a video
  16. pound — a weight
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. current — of water
  19. rush — hurry
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. field — a subject
  24. rush — a thrill

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