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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — an illness
  4. snap — to click
  5. cold — not warm
  6. roll — a cake
  7. present — there
  8. row — a line
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. present — a gift
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. net — for catching
  13. scale — in music
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. lean — to bend
  16. net — in sport
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. scale — size or range
  20. present — the time now
  21. roll — a list
  22. net — after costs
  23. lean — thin
  24. row — to paddle

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