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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. saw — the tool
  4. object — an aim
  5. cold — an illness
  6. season — in sport
  7. season — of the year
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. object — to protest
  10. clip — to cut
  11. current — electric
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. current — happening now
  15. object — a thing
  16. saw — the tool
  17. present — the time now
  18. clip — a video
  19. present — a gift
  20. current — of water
  21. cold — not warm
  22. mine — for digging
  23. clip — for paper
  24. present — there

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