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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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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. My mare is ________________ in color.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. fork — in a road
  6. tear — from crying
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. land — ground
  9. bay — a horse colour
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. bay — a part of the sea
  13. tear — from crying
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. land — to come down
  16. bay — to keep at bay
  17. tear — to rip
  18. land — a country

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