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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: hand · current · stick · can · mine · cold · saw · bat

  1. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. can — to be able to
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. hand — help
  7. current — happening now
  8. current — electric
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. current — of water
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. cold — not warm
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. mine — for digging
  17. saw — the tool
  18. hand — in cards
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. cold — an illness
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. bat — the animal
  23. saw — the tool
  24. can — a tin

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