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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. 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. dip — to dunk
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. snap — to click
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. mark — a grade
  6. field — for sport
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. field — farmland
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. dip — to sink
  13. field — a subject
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. mark — a trace
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. 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