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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. cell — in biology
  4. ground — the earth
  5. current — electric
  6. spring — the season
  7. clip — to cut
  8. cell — a phone
  9. clip — a video
  10. spring — a coil
  11. ground — crushed
  12. clip — for paper
  13. pop — music
  14. bat — the animal
  15. jam — to spread on bread
  16. spring — of water
  17. pop — to visit
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. pop — soda
  20. current — happening now
  21. ground — a position
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. current — of water
  24. jam — a tight spot

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