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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. saw — the tool
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. cold — not warm
  6. hand — help
  7. spell — magic
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. spell — a short time
  10. spell — letters
  11. season — of the year
  12. hand — in cards
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. cold — an illness
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. wake — a trail
  20. snap — to click
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. season — in sport
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. saw — the tool

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