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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. net — after costs
  3. tear — to rip
  4. saw — the tool
  5. mark — a trace
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. wound — an injury
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. chest — of your body
  10. saw — the tool
  11. net — for catching
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. chest — a box
  15. net — in sport
  16. tear — from crying
  17. wound — an injury
  18. chest — of your body
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. tear — from crying
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. date — the fruit
  24. mark — a grade

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