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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 116 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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. face — to confront
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. row — to paddle
  11. face — part of the head
  12. row — a line
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. face — to point toward
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. saw — the tool
  20. plane — a tool
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. saw — the tool

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