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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. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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. foot — a measure
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. spell — letters
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. file — a document
  8. cold — an illness
  9. chip — for betting
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. bass — low music
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. file — a tool
  17. file — a line of people
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. bass — the fish
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. spell — a short time
  22. snap — to click
  23. spell — magic
  24. chip — to eat

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