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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cap — a lid
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. spring — a coil
  8. content — happy
  9. swing — in golf
  10. cold — an illness
  11. swing — to play on
  12. spring — of water
  13. swing — music
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cap — a hat
  16. snap — to click
  17. content — the amount
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. spring — the season
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. cold — not warm
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. cap — of ice

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