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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. ground — crushed
  3. last — final
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. ground — the earth
  6. ground — a position
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. prune — to trim
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. sharp — clever
  12. cap — of ice
  13. prune — to trim
  14. bat — the animal
  15. last — to go on
  16. hand — help
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. last — finally
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. cap — a hat
  24. cap — a lid

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