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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
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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: leaves · degree · ball · straw · cold · last · fan · sharp

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. last — to go on
  3. ball — a great time
  4. last — finally
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. degree — an amount
  11. ball — a dance
  12. degree — temperature
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — an illness
  20. sharp — clever
  21. last — final
  22. degree — from a university
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. sharp — exactly

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