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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. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. hand — help
  3. row — a line
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. land — ground
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. degree — temperature
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. snap — to click
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. degree — from a university
  17. dip — to sink
  18. land — to come down
  19. hand — in cards
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. land — a country
  23. degree — an amount
  24. row — to paddle

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