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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. key — the most important part
  3. march — music
  4. hand — in cards
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. stem — to come from
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. band — a music group
  10. perch — the fish
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. hand — help
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. march — the month
  16. band — a ring
  17. key — for a lock
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. key — in music
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. snap — to click
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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