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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: mate · wound · cold · current · game · field · straw · bass

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — an injury
  6. cold — not warm
  7. current — of water
  8. mate — to breed
  9. cold — an illness
  10. mate — a partner
  11. current — happening now
  12. field — farmland
  13. game — a match
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. current — electric
  16. bass — low music
  17. bass — the fish
  18. field — for sport
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. mate — a friend
  22. field — a subject
  23. game — wild animals
  24. cold — the Cold War

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