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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. My mare is ________________ in color.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. track — a path
  4. drill — a practice
  5. cold — an illness
  6. last — finally
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. cold — not warm
  10. drill — the tool
  11. content — the amount
  12. track — a song
  13. bay — a horse colour
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. content — happy
  16. last — to go on
  17. court — of law
  18. last — final
  19. drill — army training
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. court — for sport
  22. track — to keep track
  23. bay — a part of the sea
  24. court — of a king

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