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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cell — a phone
  4. rock — a stone
  5. lie — to recline
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. rock — music
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. cell — in biology
  11. capital — a city
  12. mug — to rob
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. cold — an illness
  17. mug — a cup
  18. mug — a face
  19. capital — money
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. shower — rain
  22. snap — to click
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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