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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. content — happy
  4. season — of the year
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. sharp — clever
  7. season — in sport
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. branch — a division
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. content — the amount
  15. stem — to come from
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. pitch — completely
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. cold — not warm
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. cold — an illness

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