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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  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. fan — to cool the air
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. content — happy
  4. content — the amount
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. court — for sport
  10. court — of a king
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. bass — low music
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. court — of law
  17. current — electric
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. bass — the fish
  20. current — happening now
  21. stem — to come from
  22. fork — in a road
  23. stem — of a plant
  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