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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. last — to go on
  4. chair — a leader
  5. hand — help
  6. lie — to recline
  7. last — final
  8. net — in sport
  9. last — finally
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. sharp — clever
  12. season — in sport
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. net — after costs
  18. net — for catching
  19. cold — an illness
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. season — of the year
  23. hand — in cards
  24. cold — not warm

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