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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. track — a song
  3. roll — a list
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. cold — not warm
  6. march — music
  7. bark — to shout
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. pop — music
  10. pop — to visit
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. march — the month
  13. march — the month
  14. track — a path
  15. pop — soda
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. roll — a cake
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. track — to keep track
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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