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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. pitch — completely
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. spring — a coil
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. wound — an injury
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. wound — an injury
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. spring — the season
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. bear — the animal
  19. cell — in biology
  20. bark — to shout
  21. cell — a phone
  22. bear — the animal
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. spring — of water

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