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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 120 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 water is too ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. spell — a short time
  4. spell — letters
  5. bulb — for light
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. cold — an illness
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. season — of the year
  10. foot — a measure
  11. season — in sport
  12. degree — from a university
  13. sharp — clever
  14. degree — an amount
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bulb — for light
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. degree — temperature
  24. spell — magic

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