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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. swing — music
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. wound — an injury
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. swing — to play on
  7. fine — all right
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. rule — a law
  11. sharp — clever
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. swing — in golf
  16. rule — government
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cell — in biology
  20. shower — to wash
  21. fine — high quality
  22. shower — rain
  23. bat — the animal
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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