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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. kid — to tease
  4. season — in sport
  5. kid — child
  6. capital — money
  7. saw — the tool
  8. chest — of your body
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. season — of the year
  12. saw — the tool
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — a box
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. court — of law
  20. capital — a city
  21. court — for sport
  22. court — of a king
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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