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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. sharp — clever
  4. row — a line
  5. present — a gift
  6. fall — to drop
  7. swing — music
  8. present — there
  9. fall — the season
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. fall — to drop
  15. cold — not warm
  16. spell — magic
  17. swing — to play on
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. spell — letters
  20. spell — a short time
  21. row — to paddle
  22. present — the time now
  23. swing — in golf
  24. cold — the Cold War

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