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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  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. net — for catching
  3. mine — for digging
  4. cold — not warm
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. club — for golf
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. net — in sport
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. club — a group
  14. lie — to recline
  15. spell — a short time
  16. net — after costs
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. spell — magic
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. club — for dancing
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. spell — letters
  23. temple — side of the head
  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