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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 116 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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. snap — to click
  3. bear — the animal
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. spring — a coil
  7. spring — the season
  8. bear — the animal
  9. net — after costs
  10. bat — the animal
  11. net — in sport
  12. cell — a phone
  13. spring — of water
  14. cell — in biology
  15. branch — a division
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. net — for catching
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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