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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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. sharp — clever
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. cold — not warm
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. bass — the fish
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. wax — to grow
  13. hand — help
  14. chest — a box
  15. chest — of your body
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bass — low music
  21. cold — an illness
  22. chest — of your body
  23. hand — in cards
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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