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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Where did you ________________ them?
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. He refilled his coffee ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. club — for dancing
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. season — of the year
  5. file — a tool
  6. cold — not warm
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. sharp — clever
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. rash — hasty
  11. file — a document
  12. capital — a city
  13. season — in sport
  14. club — a group
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. mug — to rob
  17. cold — an illness
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. file — a line of people
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. rash — a series
  22. club — for golf
  23. capital — money
  24. mug — a cup

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