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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. bat — the animal
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. stock — shares
  6. stock — goods
  7. last — finally
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. sharp — clever
  11. file — a tool
  12. tear — to rip
  13. tear — from crying
  14. last — final
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. rest — what's left
  17. file — a document
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. tear — from crying
  20. file — a line of people
  21. rest — what's left
  22. rest — a break
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. last — to go on

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