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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. tube — a container
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. cold — an illness
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. bat — the animal
  14. foot — a measure
  15. pound — a weight
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. tube — the underground
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. cold — not warm
  23. rush — hurry
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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