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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 124 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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. spring — of water
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. wake — a trail
  7. game — a match
  8. kid — to tease
  9. spring — a coil
  10. foot — part of the body
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. chest — of your body
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. foot — a measure
  15. land — a country
  16. land — ground
  17. game — wild animals
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. snap — to click
  20. kid — child
  21. spring — the season
  22. chest — a box
  23. chest — of your body
  24. land — to come down

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