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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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. mate — a partner
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. board — a committee
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. cold — an illness
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. mate — to breed
  13. cold — not warm
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. bat — the animal
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. mate — a friend
  18. fork — in a road
  19. sharp — clever
  20. dip — to sink
  21. board — to get on
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. dip — a sauce

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