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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. squash — the sport
  4. bound — certain
  5. rest — a break
  6. bound — tied together
  7. bound — obliged
  8. file — a line of people
  9. roll — a list
  10. snap — to click
  11. land — to come down
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. rest — what's left
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. squash — to crush
  19. land — a country
  20. file — a document
  21. file — a tool
  22. rest — what's left
  23. land — ground
  24. roll — on a roll

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