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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. rash — hasty
  5. kid — child
  6. kid — to tease
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — for paper
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. mine — for digging
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. field — for sport
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. current — of water
  17. plane — a tool
  18. field — a subject
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. rash — a series
  21. field — farmland
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. current — electric

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