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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. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  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. wave — of the sea
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. last — finally
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. cell — in biology
  8. snap — to click
  9. file — a line of people
  10. last — final
  11. rash — hasty
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. file — a tool
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. kick — in football
  17. file — a document
  18. cell — a phone
  19. wave — a sudden rise
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — not warm
  22. rash — a series
  23. last — to go on
  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