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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. wake — a trail
  5. cold — not warm
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. tube — the underground
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. game — a match
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. snap — to click
  13. sharp — clever
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. game — wild animals
  18. scale — in music
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. scale — size or range
  21. tube — a container
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — the Cold War

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