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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bark — to shout
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. pit — in a race
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. scale — in music
  15. cold — not warm
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. sharp — clever
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. scale — size or range
  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