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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. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. rule — a law
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. wound — an injury
  9. mine — for digging
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. branch — a division
  14. date — the fruit
  15. rule — government
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. wound — an injury
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. branch — of a bank

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