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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. vault — in gymnastics
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. sharp — clever
  6. snap — to click
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. vault — a safe
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. hand — help
  14. bark — to shout
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. branch — a division
  19. cell — in biology
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. hand — in cards
  23. bat — the animal
  24. cell — a phone

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