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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  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 speak sharply
  2. snap — to click
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. fall — the season
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. cell — in biology
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. court — of a king
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. court — for sport
  14. fall — to drop
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. wound — an injury
  18. cold — an illness
  19. pass — a permit
  20. wound — an injury
  21. court — of law
  22. cell — a phone
  23. fall — to drop
  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