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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. last — to go on
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. chip — to eat
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. cold — an illness
  8. last — final
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. sharp — clever
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. last — finally
  16. fine — all right
  17. chip — for betting
  18. cold — not warm
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. cell — a phone
  22. bat — the animal
  23. cell — in biology
  24. fine — high quality

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