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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. cold — not warm
  3. chip — to eat
  4. lean — thin
  5. march — the month
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. sharp — clever
  8. cold — an illness
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. shower — to wash
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. present — there
  14. chip — for betting
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. present — the time now
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. lean — to bend
  21. present — a gift
  22. shower — rain
  23. march — music
  24. straw — a straw man

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