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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. tube — a container
  5. spring — the season
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. pitch — completely
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. spring — a coil
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. mate — to breed
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. tube — the underground
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. bat — the animal
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. perch — the fish
  20. mate — a partner
  21. spring — of water
  22. mate — a friend
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. perch — for a bird

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