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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 hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. craft — a skill
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. cold — an illness
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. cold — not warm
  9. ground — the earth
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. craft — boats
  13. sharp — clever
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. row — a line
  16. mark — a trace
  17. ground — a position
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. mark — a grade
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. row — to paddle
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. ground — crushed

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