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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. cold — not warm
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. prune — to trim
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. fork — in a road
  8. cold — an illness
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. content — happy
  12. court — of a king
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. sharp — clever
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. content — the amount
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. court — of law
  20. kid — child
  21. court — for sport
  22. kid — to tease
  23. prune — to trim
  24. sharp — with an edge

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