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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. court — of law
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. court — for sport
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. stock — goods
  11. band — a music group
  12. stock — shares
  13. tube — the underground
  14. mine — for digging
  15. tube — a container
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. court — of a king
  18. band — a ring

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