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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. root — of a word
  3. wind — moving air
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. hand — in cards
  6. sharp — clever
  7. pass — to succeed
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. snap — to click
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. pass — a permit
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. wind — moving air
  16. season — in sport
  17. hand — help
  18. root — the cause
  19. ball — a great time
  20. ball — a dance
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. root — of a plant
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. ball — a round shape

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