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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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Word bank
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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. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — to attach or keep to
  2. degree — an amount
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. land — to come down
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. chair — a leader
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. land — ground
  11. wake — a trail
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. degree — from a university
  14. prune — to trim
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. degree — temperature
  19. cold — an illness
  20. prune — to trim
  21. cold — not warm
  22. land — a country
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. snap — to click

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