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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 124 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 would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. rest — a break
  3. cold — not warm
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. object — an aim
  6. cold — an illness
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. spring — of water
  9. object — a thing
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. rest — what's left
  14. sharp — clever
  15. spring — the season
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. object — to protest
  18. spring — a coil
  19. rest — what's left
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. fork — in a road
  23. season — in sport
  24. season — of the year

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