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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. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. wake — a trail
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. root — the cause
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. root — of a word
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. root — of a plant
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. cold — an illness
  13. race — a contest
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. calf — of the leg
  16. perch — the fish
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. race — the arms race
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. race — humankind
  21. bat — the animal
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bat — in an idiom

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