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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. capital — money
  5. roll — a cake
  6. sharp — clever
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. swing — music
  9. net — in sport
  10. roll — a list
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. net — after costs
  14. cold — an illness
  15. swing — to play on
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. capital — a city
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. net — for catching
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. swing — in golf
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. sharp — exactly

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