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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 116 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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. cold — an illness
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. hand — help
  7. cold — not warm
  8. mark — a trace
  9. kid — to tease
  10. rock — a stone
  11. kid — child
  12. bound — obliged
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. sharp — clever
  15. hand — in cards
  16. court — for sport
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. court — of a king
  20. bound — certain
  21. bound — tied together
  22. mark — a grade
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. court — of law

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