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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. last — to go on
  3. last — finally
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. sharp — clever
  6. ball — a dance
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. wind — moving air
  10. last — final
  11. wind — moving air
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. cue — a hint
  16. cue — a signal
  17. wound — an injury
  18. cue — for pool
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. rash — hasty
  21. wound — an injury
  22. fork — in a road
  23. rash — a series
  24. ball — a round shape

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