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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 120 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. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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. ground — a position
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. cap — a hat
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. bark — to shout
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. snap — to click
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. spell — a short time
  13. spell — letters
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. spell — magic
  16. ground — the earth
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. ground — crushed
  19. kid — to tease
  20. cap — of ice
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. kid — child
  23. cap — a lid
  24. kick — in football

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