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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. bat — the animal
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. tear — from crying
  5. shower — rain
  6. jam — in traffic
  7. present — the time now
  8. present — there
  9. present — a gift
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. shower — to wash
  15. jam — a tight spot
  16. tear — from crying
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. jam — to spread on bread
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. tear — to rip
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. sharp — clever

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