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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. My mare is ________________ in color.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. face — to confront
  3. current — electric
  4. swing — to play on
  5. bay — a part of the sea
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. current — happening now
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. chest — of your body
  13. face — part of the head
  14. chest — of your body
  15. game — a match
  16. face — to point toward
  17. chair — a leader
  18. swing — music
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. bay — a horse colour
  21. cold — not warm
  22. chest — a box
  23. swing — in golf
  24. game — wild animals

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