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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. rash — hasty
  3. cold — an illness
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. court — for sport
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. degree — temperature
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. cold — not warm
  12. court — of law
  13. degree — an amount
  14. sharp — clever
  15. court — of a king
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. rash — a series
  20. degree — from a university
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. snap — to click
  24. straw — a straw man

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