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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 116 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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. ground — a position
  4. cold — an illness
  5. capital — money
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. march — the month
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. row — a line
  10. ground — crushed
  11. snap — to click
  12. safe — a strongbox
  13. ground — the earth
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. march — music
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. cold — not warm
  19. row — to paddle
  20. capital — a city
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. march — the month

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