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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. sharp — clever
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. saw — the tool
  8. saw — the tool
  9. band — a ring
  10. snap — to click
  11. track — a song
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. branch — a division
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. track — a path
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. band — a music group

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