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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. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Where did you ________________ them?
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a cup
  2. band — a music group
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — to trim
  6. mug — a face
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cold — not warm
  13. snap — to click
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. net — for catching
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. game — a match
  20. band — a ring
  21. net — after costs
  22. mug — to rob
  23. net — in sport
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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