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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 120 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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. face — part of the head
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. file — a line of people
  6. sharp — clever
  7. season — of the year
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. cold — an illness
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. season — in sport
  13. face — to confront
  14. fine — high quality
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. file — a tool
  17. face — to point toward
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. branch — a division
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. file — a document
  24. cold — not warm

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