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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. My mare is ________________ in color.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. cold — an illness
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. wound — an injury
  9. sharp — clever
  10. field — a subject
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. field — farmland
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. prune — to trim
  17. date — the fruit
  18. wound — an injury
  19. bay — a horse colour
  20. field — for sport
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. prune — to trim
  23. bay — a part of the sea
  24. mouse — for a computer

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