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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. season — of the year
  4. stem — to come from
  5. dip — to sink
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. tear — to rip
  9. mine — for digging
  10. march — the month
  11. march — the month
  12. season — in sport
  13. squash — the sport
  14. squash — to crush
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. march — music
  18. tear — from crying
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. tear — from crying

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