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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. cold — an illness
  3. sharp — clever
  4. chest — a box
  5. chest — of your body
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. board — to get on
  8. clip — a video
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. chest — of your body
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. board — a committee
  18. clip — for paper
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. cold — not warm

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