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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. swing — music
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. squash — the sport
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. file — a line of people
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. squash — to crush
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. wake — a trail
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. swing — in golf
  15. pit — in a race
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. sharp — clever
  18. file — a document
  19. swing — to play on
  20. cold — not warm
  21. date — the fruit
  22. cold — an illness
  23. file — a tool
  24. pit — a hole

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