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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. cold — not warm
  3. spring — the season
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. fine — all right
  9. spring — of water
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. cold — an illness
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. saw — the tool
  18. fine — high quality
  19. spring — a coil
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. saw — the tool
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. patient — a sick person

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