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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. net — after costs
  4. prune — to trim
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. bulb — for light
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bulb — for light
  9. prune — to trim
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. fall — to drop
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. net — for catching
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. fall — the season
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. net — in sport
  21. fall — to drop
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. cold — an illness

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