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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 shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. chair — a leader
  3. field — farmland
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. snap — to click
  6. field — a subject
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. cold — an illness
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. prune — to trim
  15. fine — all right
  16. prune — to trim
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. field — for sport
  22. sharp — clever
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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