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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. When will it ________________ you to start?
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — to fit
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. court — for sport
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. suit — in cards
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. suit — clothes
  8. wake — a trail
  9. court — of a king
  10. sharp — clever
  11. drill — the tool
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — an illness
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. drill — a practice
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. rash — a series
  20. drill — army training
  21. court — of law
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bat — the animal
  24. rash — hasty

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