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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: net · cold · last · branch · face · sharp · snap · pitch

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. sharp — clever
  4. snap — to click
  5. cold — an illness
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. branch — a division
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. net — for catching
  10. face — to confront
  11. last — to go on
  12. last — final
  13. net — after costs
  14. face — to point toward
  15. face — part of the head
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. last — finally
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. net — in sport
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. pitch — completely
  24. cold — the Cold War

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