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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. squash — the sport
  5. sharp — clever
  6. squash — to crush
  7. march — music
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. rash — hasty
  11. cold — not warm
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. cold — an illness
  15. field — farmland
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. field — a subject
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. march — the month
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. field — for sport
  23. march — the month
  24. rash — a series

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