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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. roll — a cake
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. file — a tool
  6. track — to keep track
  7. file — a line of people
  8. game — a match
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. snap — to click
  11. wound — an injury
  12. court — for sport
  13. track — a path
  14. wound — an injury
  15. court — of a king
  16. file — a document
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. game — wild animals
  20. roll — a list
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. track — a song
  24. court — of law

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