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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 116 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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. hand — help
  3. bark — to shout
  4. last — to go on
  5. cold — an illness
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. last — finally
  10. cold — not warm
  11. ground — the earth
  12. last — final
  13. land — a country
  14. ground — a position
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. hand — in cards
  19. land — ground
  20. ground — crushed
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. land — to come down
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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