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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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468
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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. snap — to click
  3. cold — an illness
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. cold — not warm
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. rule — a law
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. date — the fruit
  17. rule — government
  18. pass — a permit
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. pass — to succeed
  22. fork — in a road
  23. rush — hurry
  24. fork — to eat with

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