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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. My mare is ________________ in color.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. cold — an illness
  3. spell — magic
  4. spell — a short time
  5. clip — for paper
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. clip — a video
  9. cold — not warm
  10. kid — to tease
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. bay — a horse colour
  14. sharp — clever
  15. capital — money
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. spell — letters
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. capital — a city
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. clip — to cut
  24. kid — child

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