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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. cold — not warm
  3. toast — bread
  4. season — of the year
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wound — an injury
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. season — in sport
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. wound — an injury
  15. clip — for paper
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. sharp — clever
  20. clip — to cut
  21. clip — a video
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. coach — a trainer

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