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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 116 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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. lean — thin
  5. cold — an illness
  6. band — a music group
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. sharp — clever
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. tube — the underground
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — to cut
  15. tube — a container
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. mine — for digging
  18. deal — to handle
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. cold — not warm
  21. band — a ring
  22. lean — to bend
  23. clip — for paper
  24. deal — an agreement

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