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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. snap — to click
  4. march — music
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. land — a country
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. land — to come down
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. land — ground
  13. date — the fruit
  14. cold — an illness
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. march — the month
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. cold — not warm
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. bark — to shout
  21. drill — the tool
  22. drill — army training
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. march — the month

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