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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: wind · race · date · fan · current · straw · clip · wound

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  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. wound — an injury
  2. date — the fruit
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. current — happening now
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — a video
  9. current — electric
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wind — moving air
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. clip — for paper
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. race — a contest
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. race — the arms race
  21. race — humankind
  22. wind — moving air
  23. fan — to cool the air
  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