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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 116 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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. snap — to click
  3. spring — of water
  4. last — finally
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. wake — a trail
  7. last — to go on
  8. spring — a coil
  9. key — in music
  10. cold — an illness
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. last — final
  16. key — the most important part
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. key — for a lock
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. spring — the season
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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