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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. object — an aim
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. object — to protest
  8. content — happy
  9. march — the month
  10. bat — the animal
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. spell — a short time
  13. race — humankind
  14. object — a thing
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. spell — magic
  17. march — music
  18. content — the amount
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. march — the month
  21. spell — letters
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. race — a contest
  24. race — the arms race

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