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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. bound — certain
  3. bat — the animal
  4. perch — the fish
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. swing — music
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. rash — hasty
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. rash — a series
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. pitch — completely
  16. bound — obliged
  17. sharp — clever
  18. degree — from a university
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. swing — in golf
  21. bound — tied together
  22. degree — temperature
  23. swing — to play on
  24. degree — an amount

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