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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. drill — a practice
  8. spring — of water
  9. spring — a coil
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — moving air
  13. spring — the season
  14. snap — to click
  15. sharp — clever
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. drill — army training
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. date — the fruit
  22. rash — hasty
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. rash — a series

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