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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: pitcher · cold · wind · ruler · game · sharp · leaves · straw

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  16. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. wind — moving air
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. sharp — clever
  11. cold — not warm
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. game — wild animals
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. ruler — a monarch
  17. wind — moving air
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. game — a match
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. leaves — to go away

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