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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 120 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 muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. spell — letters
  3. snap — to click
  4. track — to keep track
  5. spell — magic
  6. track — a song
  7. fork — in a road
  8. capital — a city
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. capital — money
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. shower — rain
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. bore — to tire
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. shower — to wash
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. spell — a short time
  21. bore — to drill
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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