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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 took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. march — music
  6. ground — the earth
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. last — final
  9. ground — a position
  10. march — the month
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. sharp — clever
  14. march — the month
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. last — to go on
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. net — after costs
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. last — finally
  21. net — in sport
  22. cold — an illness
  23. ground — crushed
  24. pitch — completely

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