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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. mate — a partner
  3. mate — a friend
  4. net — for catching
  5. vault — an arched ceiling
  6. cold — an illness
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. snap — to click
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. perch — the fish
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — to trim
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. net — in sport
  17. mate — to breed
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. net — after costs
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. vault — a safe
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. kick — in football
  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