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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. snap — to click
  4. track — to keep track
  5. cell — a phone
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. rush — hurry
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. pit — in a race
  10. track — a path
  11. wind — moving air
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. perch — the fish
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. sharp — clever
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. track — a song
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. cell — in biology
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. wind — moving air

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