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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. kid — to tease
  3. last — final
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. lean — thin
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. scale — in music
  13. stock — shares
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. last — to go on
  17. stock — goods
  18. scale — size or range
  19. lean — to bend
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. kid — child
  22. last — finally
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. bat — the animal

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