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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 116 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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. present — a gift
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. field — for sport
  5. current — happening now
  6. drill — the tool
  7. game — a match
  8. field — farmland
  9. drill — army training
  10. tear — from crying
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. tear — to rip
  14. drill — a practice
  15. tear — from crying
  16. current — of water
  17. tube — the underground
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. field — a subject
  20. game — wild animals
  21. present — there
  22. bat — the animal
  23. present — the time now
  24. tube — a container

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