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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. current — electric
  3. field — a subject
  4. bore — to drill
  5. wax — to grow
  6. pop — music
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. land — to come down
  9. court — of a king
  10. pop — to visit
  11. bore — to tire
  12. cold — not warm
  13. court — for sport
  14. field — for sport
  15. cold — an illness
  16. current — happening now
  17. court — of law
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. field — farmland
  20. land — a country
  21. pop — soda
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. land — ground

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