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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. cold — not warm
  3. last — finally
  4. scale — size or range
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. sharp — clever
  12. band — a music group
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. scale — in music
  15. cold — an illness
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. band — a ring
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. last — final
  24. fan — to cool the air

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