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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. rock — music
  3. chest — of your body
  4. spring — the season
  5. spring — of water
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. lean — to bend
  9. chest — a box
  10. spring — a coil
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. snap — to click
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. sharp — clever
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. chest — of your body
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. lean — thin
  24. rock — a stone

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