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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: current · bat · spell · net · cold · rush · pitcher · snap

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. bat — the animal
  3. spell — letters
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. net — for catching
  6. net — in sport
  7. current — happening now
  8. net — after costs
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. snap — to click
  11. spell — a short time
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. current — electric
  17. cold — an illness
  18. rush — hurry
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. current — of water

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