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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. tear — to rip
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. sharp — clever
  6. tear — from crying
  7. wave — of the sea
  8. field — farmland
  9. present — the time now
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. field — for sport
  13. prune — to trim
  14. field — a subject
  15. tear — from crying
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — in biology
  19. prune — to trim
  20. cell — a phone
  21. bat — the animal
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. present — a gift
  24. present — there

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