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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: saw · sharp · squash · bat · row · club · cold · chest

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. chest — of your body
  3. cold — an illness
  4. chest — of your body
  5. club — for dancing
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. saw — the tool
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. bat — the animal
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. squash — the sport
  12. saw — the tool
  13. club — a group
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. row — a line
  17. row — to paddle
  18. sharp — clever
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. club — for golf
  23. squash — to crush
  24. cold — not warm

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