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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. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  16. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — decided
  2. squash — to crush
  3. chest — of your body
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. squash — the sport
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. wake — a trail
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. firm — a company
  16. firm — steady
  17. snap — to click
  18. chest — a box
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. bat — the animal
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. mine — for digging
  23. chest — of your body
  24. bat — in an idiom

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