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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. court — for sport
  3. land — ground
  4. bound — obliged
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. bear — the animal
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. bound — certain
  13. bound — tied together
  14. bear — the animal
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. court — of a king
  17. shower — rain
  18. land — to come down
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. land — a country
  21. shower — to wash
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. court — of law

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