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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: game · cue · mark · bat · cold · bear · sharp · coach

  1. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. cue — a hint
  3. cue — a signal
  4. cold — not warm
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. mark — a grade
  8. bear — the animal
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. game — wild animals
  11. game — a match
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. sharp — clever
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. mark — a trace
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cue — for pool
  24. bear — the animal

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