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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. snap — to click
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wound — an injury
  7. fork — in a road
  8. date — the fruit
  9. capital — a city
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. capital — money
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. wound — an injury
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. date — on the calendar

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