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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  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. toast — bread
  2. rash — hasty
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. row — a line
  7. face — to confront
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. face — part of the head
  10. stem — to come from
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. rash — a series
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. drill — army training
  15. drill — a practice
  16. snap — to click
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. face — to point toward
  19. row — to paddle
  20. drill — the tool
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. sharp — clever
  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