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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. chest — of your body
  3. net — after costs
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. snap — to click
  6. cue — a signal
  7. game — a match
  8. drill — the tool
  9. cue — for pool
  10. chest — a box
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. spring — of water
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. cue — a hint
  15. spring — a coil
  16. drill — a practice
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. net — in sport
  19. net — for catching
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. drill — army training
  22. spring — the season
  23. stem — to come from
  24. chest — of your body

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