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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. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. pass — to spend time
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. ball — a dance
  8. rule — government
  9. cold — not warm
  10. degree — an amount
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. degree — from a university
  14. board — to get on
  15. cold — an illness
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. pass — a permit
  19. degree — temperature
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. sharp — clever
  23. board — a committee
  24. ball — a great time

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