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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. net — in sport
  4. kid — to tease
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. dip — to sink
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. cold — an illness
  10. sharp — clever
  11. net — after costs
  12. kid — child
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cap — of ice
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. wax — to grow
  19. prune — to trim
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. cap — a lid
  22. cap — a hat
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. net — for catching

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