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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. cold — an illness
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. ground — the earth
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. cold — not warm
  7. ground — crushed
  8. game — a match
  9. saw — the tool
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. saw — the tool
  15. ground — a position
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. kid — child
  18. kid — to tease
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. sharp — clever
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. saw — past of 'see'

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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