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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. last — final
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. court — of a king
  9. prune — to trim
  10. court — for sport
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. court — of law
  13. last — finally
  14. scale — size or range
  15. scale — in music
  16. last — to go on
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. snap — to click
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. land — to come down
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. prune — to trim
  23. land — a country
  24. wake — a trail

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