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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 116 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's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. band — a ring
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. last — to go on
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. lie — to recline
  10. perch — the fish
  11. cold — not warm
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. saw — the tool
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. saw — the tool
  18. last — finally
  19. last — final
  20. cold — an illness
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. band — a music group
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. band — a rubber band

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