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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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. spell — a short time
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. net — in sport
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. degree — from a university
  8. net — after costs
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. snap — to click
  11. last — final
  12. game — wild animals
  13. last — finally
  14. spell — magic
  15. degree — an amount
  16. net — for catching
  17. degree — temperature
  18. spell — letters
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. cold — not warm
  21. last — to go on
  22. cold — an illness
  23. kick — in football
  24. game — a match

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