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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. club — a group
  3. firm — a company
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. dip — to sink
  6. land — a country
  7. firm — steady
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. club — for golf
  10. cell — in biology
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. firm — decided
  13. club — for dancing
  14. land — to come down
  15. hand — help
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. cell — a phone
  18. cold — not warm
  19. hand — in cards
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. land — ground
  24. dip — to dunk

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