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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. present — a gift
  4. present — there
  5. row — a line
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. present — the time now
  9. row — to paddle
  10. spring — the season
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. cold — an illness
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. spring — of water
  15. club — for dancing
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. snap — to click
  19. club — for golf
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wind — moving air
  22. spring — a coil
  23. club — a group
  24. racket — for tennis

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