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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: clip · press · current · wound · straw · cold · shower · last

  1. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. shower — rain
  3. clip — to cut
  4. current — of water
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. shower — to wash
  7. wound — an injury
  8. press — a publisher
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. current — happening now
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. press — newspapers
  13. wound — an injury
  14. clip — a video
  15. cold — not warm
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. last — finally
  18. last — final
  19. clip — for paper
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. last — to go on
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. press — to push

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