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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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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: season · race · lean · cold · net · sharp · bat · rule

  1. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. net — for catching
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. net — in sport
  6. race — the arms race
  7. cold — not warm
  8. race — a contest
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. lean — to bend
  14. rule — government
  15. cold — an illness
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. season — of the year
  18. lean — thin
  19. race — humankind
  20. net — after costs
  21. sharp — clever
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rule — a law
  24. season — to add flavour

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