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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: march · current · cold · shower · spring · ball · stock · nail

  1. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. march — the month
  5. ball — a great time
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. cold — not warm
  9. current — happening now
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. shower — rain
  13. stock — goods
  14. march — music
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. spring — the season
  17. spring — a coil
  18. march — the month
  19. spring — of water
  20. ball — a dance
  21. current — electric
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. shower — to wash
  24. stock — shares

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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