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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. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. bat — the animal
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. snap — to click
  6. spring — of water
  7. band — a music group
  8. file — a document
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. spring — the season
  11. pitch — completely
  12. band — a ring
  13. file — a tool
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. spring — a coil
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. file — a line of people
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. kick — in football

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