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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bat — the animal
  4. swing — to play on
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. ground — the earth
  7. ground — a position
  8. swing — in golf
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. court — for sport
  11. ground — crushed
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. court — of law
  15. cell — a phone
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. bark — to shout
  18. court — of a king
  19. swing — music
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. bat — in an idiom

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