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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. key — the most important part
  3. pop — soda
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. pop — to visit
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. drill — army training
  8. key — in music
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. key — for a lock
  12. drill — the tool
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. bore — to tire
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. pop — music
  18. mine — for digging
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. bore — to drill
  21. bat — the animal
  22. drill — a practice
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. sharp — clever

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