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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. squash — the sport
  5. staff — a stick
  6. sharp — clever
  7. cold — an illness
  8. shower — to wash
  9. key — the most important part
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. shower — rain
  12. cold — not warm
  13. staff — employees
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wound — an injury
  16. staff — employees
  17. key — for a lock
  18. roll — a list
  19. roll — a cake
  20. key — in music
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. squash — to crush

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