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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. last — to go on
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. jam — a tight spot
  5. spring — the season
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. rest — what's left
  8. rest — a break
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. rest — what's left
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. bark — to shout
  13. spring — of water
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. spring — a coil
  16. bat — the animal
  17. last — final
  18. last — finally
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. snap — to click
  24. roll — a list

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