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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. cell — a phone
  3. cell — in biology
  4. pop — to visit
  5. court — of a king
  6. pop — music
  7. court — for sport
  8. march — the month
  9. pop — soda
  10. fall — to drop
  11. snap — to click
  12. rash — hasty
  13. fall — to drop
  14. march — music
  15. march — the month
  16. lean — thin
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. lean — to bend
  19. court — of law
  20. rash — a series
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. fall — the season
  24. lean — to rest against

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