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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 124 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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. What do you think of the new ________________?
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. You shouldn't ________________ things.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. spell — letters
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. spell — magic
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. cold — an illness
  8. snap — to click
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. cold — not warm
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. spell — a short time
  16. perch — the fish
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. date — the fruit
  20. band — a ring
  21. band — a music group
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. rush — to hurry

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