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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 116 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: rush · sharp · kick · last · bat · ball · cold · prune

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. last — to go on
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. rush — hurry
  6. cold — not warm
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. last — final
  9. cold — an illness
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. ball — a great time
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. prune — to trim
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. last — finally
  20. bat — the animal
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. sharp — clever
  23. prune — to trim
  24. ball — a dance

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