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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 120 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. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. game — a match
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. key — in music
  7. chest — of your body
  8. key — the most important part
  9. spring — of water
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. spring — a coil
  12. march — the month
  13. march — music
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. game — wild animals
  17. band — a ring
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. march — the month
  20. spring — the season
  21. chest — a box
  22. band — a music group
  23. chest — of your body
  24. key — for a lock

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