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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. kick — in football
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. chair — a leader
  7. cold — not warm
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. sharp — clever
  12. prune — to trim
  13. pitch — completely
  14. cold — an illness
  15. field — for sport
  16. prune — to trim
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. field — farmland
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. field — a subject
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. chair — to sit on

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