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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. snap — to click
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pit — in a race
  7. content — the amount
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. pit — a hole
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. craft — boats
  14. prune — to trim
  15. content — happy
  16. cold — not warm
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. kid — child
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. kid — to tease
  21. prune — to trim
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. craft — a skill
  24. craft — a handicraft

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