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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. cold — an illness
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. key — for a lock
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. sharp — clever
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. land — ground
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. rock — a stone
  11. bat — the animal
  12. cold — not warm
  13. key — in music
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. key — the most important part
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. land — to come down
  18. vault — a safe
  19. saw — the tool
  20. saw — the tool
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. land — a country
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. bat — in an idiom

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