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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. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. safe — a strongbox
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. safe — out of danger
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. game — a match
  10. band — a ring
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. sharp — clever
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. bat — the animal
  16. branch — a division
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. row — to paddle
  19. row — a line
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. deal — to handle
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. band — a music group
  24. game — wild animals

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