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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. race — a contest
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. court — for sport
  7. last — finally
  8. present — a gift
  9. race — the arms race
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. present — the time now
  12. court — of law
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. bay — to keep at bay
  16. shower — to wash
  17. court — of a king
  18. shower — rain
  19. last — final
  20. race — humankind
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. last — to go on
  23. present — there
  24. mine — for digging

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