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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. game — wild animals
  4. last — final
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. cold — not warm
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. plane — a tool
  11. bore — to tire
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. cold — an illness
  14. last — finally
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. snap — to click
  19. last — to go on
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. bore — to drill
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. game — a match

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