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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. scale — size or range
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. last — final
  5. fall — to drop
  6. last — to go on
  7. bound — certain
  8. fall — the season
  9. last — finally
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. cold — not warm
  16. scale — in music
  17. fall — to drop
  18. kick — in football
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. bound — tied together
  22. bound — obliged
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. cold — an illness

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