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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. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. When will it ________________ you to start?
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to sink
  2. clip — for paper
  3. game — wild animals
  4. current — happening now
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. cell — a phone
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. current — electric
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. suit — clothes
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. clip — a video
  13. cold — not warm
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — moving air
  16. suit — in cards
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. suit — to fit
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. current — of water
  21. game — a match
  22. clip — to cut
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cell — in biology

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