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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. When will it ________________ you to start?
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. season — in sport
  3. cold — an illness
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. tube — a container
  6. tube — the underground
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. suit — clothes
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. hand — help
  11. row — to paddle
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. cold — not warm
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. foot — a measure
  17. suit — in cards
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. sharp — clever
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. suit — to fit
  23. hand — in cards
  24. row — a line

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