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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: wind · spring · stem · club · content · face · current · kid

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. spring — of water
  3. face — to point toward
  4. wind — moving air
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. current — electric
  7. content — happy
  8. spring — the season
  9. face — part of the head
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. spring — a coil
  13. content — the amount
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. stem — to come from
  16. kid — child
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. current — happening now
  19. face — to confront
  20. club — a group
  21. current — of water
  22. wind — moving air
  23. kid — to tease
  24. club — for dancing

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