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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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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. spring — of water
  3. spring — the season
  4. band — a ring
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. wound — an injury
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. wound — an injury
  9. drill — a practice
  10. drill — the tool
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. staff — employees
  13. plane — a tool
  14. sharp — clever
  15. drill — army training
  16. spring — a coil
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. staff — a stick
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. band — a music group
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. staff — employees

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