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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 116 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. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. spell — a short time
  4. bark — to shout
  5. snap — to click
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. spell — letters
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. cold — not warm
  15. hand — help
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. cold — an illness
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. sharp — clever
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. spell — magic
  23. hand — in cards
  24. bat — the animal

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