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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. pop — to visit
  3. wind — moving air
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. file — a document
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. pop — soda
  10. pop — music
  11. vault — a safe
  12. file — a tool
  13. squash — the sport
  14. bat — the animal
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. stem — to come from
  17. file — a line of people
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. snap — to click
  20. squash — to crush
  21. vault — in gymnastics
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. wind — moving air

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