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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 120 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: hand · current · safe · field · wound · bulb · drill · clip

  1. I've got to change the light ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. hand — help
  3. clip — for paper
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. current — happening now
  6. drill — a practice
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — a subject
  9. current — electric
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. wound — an injury
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. safe — a strongbox
  14. bulb — for light
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. current — of water
  17. drill — the tool
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — to cut
  20. wound — an injury
  21. hand — in cards
  22. field — for sport
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. drill — army training

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