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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. saw — the tool
  5. cold — not warm
  6. net — in sport
  7. bass — the fish
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. net — for catching
  10. sharp — clever
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. cold — an illness
  14. kid — to tease
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. lean — to bend
  19. saw — the tool
  20. bass — low music
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. branch — a division
  23. net — after costs
  24. kid — child

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