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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. present — there
  3. game — wild animals
  4. pop — music
  5. cold — not warm
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. pop — soda
  8. face — part of the head
  9. face — to point toward
  10. snap — to click
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. face — to confront
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — an illness
  16. game — a match
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. foot — a measure
  19. pop — to visit
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. present — the time now
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. present — a gift

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