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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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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: hand · wake · file · squash · cold · bank · sharp · wound

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bank — of a river
  4. file — a tool
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. bank — for money
  7. squash — the sport
  8. squash — to crush
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. cold — an illness
  11. file — a document
  12. wake — a trail
  13. hand — in cards
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. bank — for money
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. hand — help
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wound — an injury
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. file — a line of people
  23. cold — not warm
  24. sharp — clever

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