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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cue · last · field · current · bat · charge · fork · clip

  1. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. charge — a price
  3. last — final
  4. cue — for pool
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. field — for sport
  8. clip — a video
  9. cue — a signal
  10. last — to go on
  11. last — finally
  12. fork — in a road
  13. field — a subject
  14. bat — the animal
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — for paper
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. charge — electricity
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. charge — in control
  21. current — of water
  22. field — farmland
  23. cue — a hint
  24. current — happening now

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