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

Word bank: mouse · tear · race · cold · bat · pit · field · current

  1. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. pit — a hole
  3. current — of water
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. field — a subject
  6. tear — from crying
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. bat — the animal
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. current — electric
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. pit — in a race
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. tear — to rip
  17. tear — from crying
  18. field — farmland
  19. field — for sport
  20. race — humankind
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. race — a contest
  23. race — the arms race
  24. cold — not warm

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