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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 120 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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. charge — in control
  3. snap — to click
  4. charge — a price
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. field — for sport
  8. bat — the animal
  9. field — farmland
  10. spring — of water
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. tube — a container
  13. spring — the season
  14. tube — the underground
  15. drill — the tool
  16. drill — a practice
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. charge — electricity
  19. drill — army training
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. field — a subject
  24. tube — in a tire

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