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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. row — a line
  3. last — to go on
  4. row — to paddle
  5. swing — to play on
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. sharp — clever
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. pound — a weight
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bat — the animal
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. last — final
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. last — finally
  17. swing — in golf
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. swing — music
  20. race — the arms race
  21. lean — to bend
  22. race — humankind
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. race — a contest

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