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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. chest — of your body
  3. net — for catching
  4. spring — of water
  5. net — after costs
  6. pop — to visit
  7. snap — to click
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. net — in sport
  10. chest — of your body
  11. pop — music
  12. chest — a box
  13. bound — obliged
  14. spring — a coil
  15. spring — the season
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. bound — certain
  18. pop — soda
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. mine — for digging
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. bound — tied together
  24. mine — an explosive

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