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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. march — the month
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. chest — of your body
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. march — music
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. kid — child
  10. degree — temperature
  11. chest — a box
  12. fork — in a road
  13. season — in sport
  14. degree — an amount
  15. kid — to tease
  16. march — the month
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. chest — of your body
  22. degree — from a university
  23. season — of the year
  24. season — to add flavour

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