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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. fall — the season
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. firm — decided
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. firm — a company
  7. content — happy
  8. track — a path
  9. track — a song
  10. fall — to drop
  11. field — for sport
  12. fall — to drop
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — an illness
  15. row — a line
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. content — the amount
  18. track — to keep track
  19. sharp — clever
  20. field — farmland
  21. firm — steady
  22. field — a subject
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. row — to paddle

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