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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. sharp — clever
  3. march — music
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. plane — a tool
  11. march — the month
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. board — to get on
  16. capital — money
  17. board — a committee
  18. bat — the animal
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. march — the month
  21. capital — a city
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. capital — a big letter

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