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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 120 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: cold · current · net · object · mine · clip · rash · cap

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. object — to protest
  3. current — of water
  4. mine — for digging
  5. clip — a video
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. cold — an illness
  8. current — electric
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cap — a lid
  11. clip — to cut
  12. net — after costs
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. current — happening now
  15. object — an aim
  16. rash — a series
  17. net — in sport
  18. object — a thing
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. clip — for paper
  21. cap — of ice
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. net — for catching
  24. cap — a hat

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