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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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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: game · march · sharp · present · fall · row · mine · hide

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. row — a line
  3. sharp — clever
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. game — a match
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. march — the month
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. march — music
  12. present — the time now
  13. fall — to drop
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. fall — to drop
  17. fall — the season
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. mine — for digging
  20. present — a gift
  21. game — wild animals
  22. march — the month
  23. row — to paddle
  24. present — there

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