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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: hand · field · racket · row · cold · jam · key · sharp

  1. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. key — the most important part
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. cold — not warm
  9. row — a line
  10. hand — in cards
  11. key — for a lock
  12. jam — in traffic
  13. cold — an illness
  14. hand — help
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — for sport
  18. sharp — clever
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. field — a subject
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. key — in music
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. jam — a tight spot

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