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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. cold — not warm
  4. court — of a king
  5. prune — to trim
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. land — a country
  8. toast — bread
  9. court — for sport
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. prune — to trim
  13. toast — the most admired
  14. current — happening now
  15. cold — an illness
  16. clip — a video
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. court — of law
  19. current — of water
  20. land — to come down
  21. land — ground
  22. clip — for paper
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. clip — to cut

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