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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. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. toast — a drink to someone
  4. spell — a short time
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. cold — an illness
  7. ground — a position
  8. march — music
  9. spell — magic
  10. spring — a coil
  11. toast — bread
  12. march — the month
  13. toast — the most admired
  14. march — the month
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. ground — crushed
  18. spring — of water
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. ground — the earth
  21. cold — not warm
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. spring — the season
  24. spell — letters

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