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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 116 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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. spring — of water
  3. cold — an illness
  4. sharp — clever
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — not warm
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. wax — to grow
  12. spring — a coil
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. spring — the season
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. hand — in cards
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. pitch — completely
  19. hand — help
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. fork — in a road
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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