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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. club — a group
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. perch — the fish
  6. mine — for digging
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. club — for golf
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. drill — the tool
  15. rash — a series
  16. sharp — clever
  17. drill — a practice
  18. bat — the animal
  19. rash — hasty
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. club — for dancing
  23. drill — army training
  24. straw — dry grass

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