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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. mine — for digging
  3. bulb — for light
  4. content — happy
  5. face — to confront
  6. bulb — for light
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. last — finally
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. last — to go on
  11. last — final
  12. content — the amount
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. face — to point toward
  17. prune — to trim
  18. face — part of the head
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. prune — to trim

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