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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 120 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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. degree — from a university
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. track — a path
  5. scale — size or range
  6. leaves — to go away
  7. track — to keep track
  8. sharp — clever
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. race — the arms race
  11. chest — a box
  12. wound — an injury
  13. race — a contest
  14. chest — of your body
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. scale — in music
  17. track — a song
  18. wound — an injury
  19. degree — an amount
  20. chest — of your body
  21. degree — temperature
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. race — humankind

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