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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. snap — to click
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. tear — from crying
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. band — a ring
  11. pit — a hole
  12. sharp — clever
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. current — electric
  15. chest — a box
  16. tear — to rip
  17. current — happening now
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. current — of water
  21. band — a music group
  22. tear — from crying
  23. chest — of your body
  24. pit — in a race

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