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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. rush — hurry
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. cold — not warm
  10. mug — to rob
  11. chest — a box
  12. mug — a face
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. chair — a leader
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — of your body
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. snap — to click
  21. craft — a skill
  22. mug — a cup
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. craft — boats

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