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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. mine — for digging
  8. kid — child
  9. drill — the tool
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. plane — a tool
  14. pitch — completely
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. drill — a practice
  17. drill — army training
  18. kid — to tease

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