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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 116 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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. key — the most important part
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. mine — for digging
  9. clip — a video
  10. cold — not warm
  11. key — for a lock
  12. pound — a weight
  13. wake — a trail
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. clip — to cut
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. clip — for paper
  21. key — in music
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. sharp — exactly

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