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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. current — of water
  4. current — electric
  5. net — in sport
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pass — to succeed
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. race — humankind
  10. cold — not warm
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. current — happening now
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. pass — a permit
  15. net — for catching
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. net — after costs
  18. game — wild animals
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. cold — an illness
  22. race — the arms race
  23. race — a contest
  24. plane — a tool

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