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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  4. When will it ________________ you to start?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  24. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.

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. hand — in cards
  3. vault — a safe
  4. suit — to fit
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. field — for sport
  7. snap — to click
  8. spring — the season
  9. hand — help
  10. court — of a king
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. spring — of water
  13. field — a subject
  14. suit — in cards
  15. spring — a coil
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. field — farmland
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. court — for sport
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. court — of law
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. suit — clothes

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