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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. You can't go backstage without a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. land — a country
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. chest — a box
  5. squash — to crush
  6. tear — to rip
  7. stem — to come from
  8. land — to come down
  9. chest — of your body
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. land — ground
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. chest — of your body
  15. tear — from crying
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. squash — the sport
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. tear — from crying
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. pass — a permit

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