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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. sharp — clever
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. scale — in music
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. pop — music
  9. march — music
  10. bat — the animal
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. march — the month
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. scale — size or range
  17. root — of a plant
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. pop — soda
  20. march — the month
  21. root — the cause
  22. root — of a word
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. bat — for baseball

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