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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  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 — clever
  2. court — of law
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — not warm
  6. court — for sport
  7. swing — in golf
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. swing — to play on
  11. bat — the animal
  12. cue — for pool
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. snap — to click
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. court — of a king
  18. branch — a division
  19. swing — music
  20. cue — a signal
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. cue — a hint
  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