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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. spring — a coil
  3. current — electric
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. last — finally
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. current — of water
  8. hand — help
  9. roll — a cake
  10. current — happening now
  11. hand — in cards
  12. roll — a list
  13. spring — the season
  14. scale — size or range
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. last — to go on
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. kid — to tease
  19. spring — of water
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. scale — in music
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. kid — child

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