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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. spell — a short time
  6. row — a line
  7. cold — an illness
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. spell — letters
  10. row — to paddle
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. cold — not warm
  16. plane — a tool
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. sharp — clever
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. spell — magic
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. rule — a law
  24. hide — to keep secret

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