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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. mark — a trace
  3. bear — the animal
  4. cold — not warm
  5. dip — to sink
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. snap — to click
  8. field — for sport
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. field — farmland
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. game — a match
  16. mark — a grade
  17. bear — the animal
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. field — a subject
  20. game — wild animals
  21. cold — an illness
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. dip — a sauce

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