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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. rule — a law
  4. pop — music
  5. saw — the tool
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pop — soda
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cell — in biology
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cold — not warm
  16. sharp — clever
  17. wake — a trail
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. saw — the tool
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. rule — government
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. cell — in a prison

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