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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: kid · perch · fan · cold · saw · chip · current · wind

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. saw — the tool
  5. cold — not warm
  6. kid — child
  7. current — electric
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. wind — moving air
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. chip — to eat
  13. perch — the fish
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. chip — for betting
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. current — of water
  21. kid — to tease
  22. current — happening now
  23. saw — the tool
  24. wind — moving air

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