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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: game · net · cold · bat · present · wake · face · current

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. current — of water
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. face — part of the head
  5. present — a gift
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. game — a match
  8. present — there
  9. current — electric
  10. net — for catching
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. face — to point toward
  14. game — wild animals
  15. face — to confront
  16. net — after costs
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. current — happening now
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bat — the animal
  21. cold — not warm
  22. net — in sport
  23. present — the time now
  24. wake — a trail

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