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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: current · club · spring · wax · arm · cold · wound · pit

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. club — for dancing
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. wound — an injury
  6. cold — an illness
  7. spring — a coil
  8. current — electric
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. spring — of water
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. current — of water
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. wax — to grow
  18. spring — the season
  19. club — for golf
  20. current — happening now
  21. pit — a hole
  22. club — a group
  23. cold — not warm
  24. pit — in a race

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