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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. cold — not warm
  3. last — to go on
  4. bound — obliged
  5. bound — tied together
  6. cold — an illness
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — of your body
  9. stock — shares
  10. current — electric
  11. land — a country
  12. current — happening now
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. chest — a box
  15. land — ground
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. stock — goods
  18. last — final
  19. ground — a position
  20. ground — crushed
  21. land — to come down
  22. last — finally
  23. bound — certain
  24. ground — the earth

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