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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. court — of law
  3. scale — in music
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. spell — magic
  6. scale — size or range
  7. lean — thin
  8. spell — letters
  9. court — of a king
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. kick — in football
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. row — to paddle
  15. row — a line
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. spell — a short time
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. lean — to bend
  20. branch — a division
  21. court — for sport
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. scale — for weighing

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