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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. squash — the sport
  4. roll — a cake
  5. toast — bread
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. face — to confront
  9. sharp — clever
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. cold — not warm
  14. face — to point toward
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. roll — a list
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. chair — a leader
  19. face — part of the head
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. squash — to crush
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. cold — an illness
  24. racket — a loud noise

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