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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. pop — soda
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. land — ground
  6. present — there
  7. perch — the fish
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. cold — an illness
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. sharp — clever
  14. land — a country
  15. pop — to visit
  16. hand — help
  17. hand — in cards
  18. squash — the sport
  19. present — the time now
  20. cold — not warm
  21. present — a gift
  22. pop — music
  23. squash — to crush
  24. land — to come down

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