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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. snap — to click
  5. prune — to trim
  6. court — of law
  7. bat — the animal
  8. court — for sport
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. court — of a king
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. current — happening now
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. prune — to trim
  20. current — electric
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. current — of water
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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