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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 120 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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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. staff — employees
  3. snap — to click
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. bass — low music
  6. field — farmland
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — money
  9. bass — the fish
  10. squash — the sport
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. file — a document
  13. field — a subject
  14. file — a line of people
  15. staff — employees
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. craft — boats
  19. craft — a skill
  20. file — a tool
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. field — for sport
  23. squash — to crush
  24. staff — a stick

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