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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. field — for sport
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. field — a subject
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. mine — for digging
  9. ball — a great time
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. field — farmland
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. ball — a dance
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. wind — moving air

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