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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. sharp — clever
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. content — happy
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. content — the amount
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. cell — a phone
  15. rush — hurry
  16. kick — in football
  17. cell — in biology
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. game — wild animals
  20. game — a match
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. game — a kind of play

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