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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. cold — not warm
  3. mug — to rob
  4. ground — crushed
  5. last — finally
  6. last — to go on
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. mug — a face
  9. sharp — clever
  10. mark — a trace
  11. prune — to trim
  12. ground — the earth
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. march — music
  15. mug — a cup
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. mark — a grade
  18. cold — an illness
  19. ground — a position
  20. march — the month
  21. march — the month
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. prune — to trim

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