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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 120 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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. cold — not warm
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. current — electric
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. wound — an injury
  8. press — to push
  9. present — the time now
  10. spring — the season
  11. spring — a coil
  12. cold — an illness
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. current — of water
  15. press — a publisher
  16. spring — of water
  17. press — newspapers
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. clip — a video
  20. current — happening now
  21. wound — an injury
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — for paper
  24. present — a gift

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