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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bore — to drill
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bound — certain
  6. degree — from a university
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. date — the fruit
  10. bound — tied together
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — the animal
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. perch — the fish
  16. bound — obliged
  17. degree — an amount
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. bore — to tire
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. degree — temperature
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. chest — a box

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