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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. court — of a king
  5. degree — an amount
  6. craft — boats
  7. spring — the season
  8. craft — a skill
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. spring — of water
  11. degree — temperature
  12. court — for sport
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. spring — a coil
  15. wake — a trail
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. hand — help
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. court — of law
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. degree — from a university
  24. hand — in cards

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