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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: bat · cold · track · sharp · race · prune · season · plane

  1. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. season — in sport
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. plane — a tool
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. track — to keep track
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. race — the arms race
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. bat — the animal
  12. track — a path
  13. cold — not warm
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. track — a song
  16. race — humankind
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. prune — to trim
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. race — a contest
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. season — of the year
  23. prune — to trim
  24. prune — the fruit

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