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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. wound — an injury
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. kid — child
  6. roll — a list
  7. spring — a coil
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. spring — of water
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. spring — the season
  12. date — the fruit
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. kid — to tease
  15. row — a line
  16. roll — a cake
  17. chip — to eat
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. chip — for betting
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. wound — an injury
  23. row — to paddle
  24. date — on the calendar

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