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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  24. I'll take my ________________ from you.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. court — for sport
  3. snap — to click
  4. mark — a grade
  5. court — of law
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. squash — to crush
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. wound — an injury
  11. squash — the sport
  12. tear — from crying
  13. court — of a king
  14. wound — an injury
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. mark — a trace
  18. tear — to rip
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. cue — a signal
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cue — for pool
  24. cue — a hint

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