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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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. scale — for weighing
  4. bore — to drill
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. game — a match
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. scale — in music
  9. land — ground
  10. file — a tool
  11. file — a document
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. file — a line of people
  14. land — to come down
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. bore — to tire
  19. scale — size or range
  20. land — a country
  21. game — wild animals
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. band — a ring
  24. band — a music group

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