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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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. snap — to snap out of it
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — of your body
  7. date — the fruit
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. current — electric
  10. chest — a box
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. mine — for digging
  13. current — of water
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. current — happening now
  17. craft — a skill
  18. saw — the tool
  19. bark — to shout
  20. craft — boats
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. saw — the tool

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