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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. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. field — a subject
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. field — for sport
  7. ground — crushed
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. chest — of your body
  10. field — farmland
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. ground — the earth
  13. chest — of your body
  14. spring — a coil
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. chest — a box
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. spring — of water
  20. spring — the season
  21. ground — a position
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. foot — a measure
  24. mouse — for a computer

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