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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 120 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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. present — a gift
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. mine — for digging
  6. spring — a coil
  7. land — a country
  8. fork — in a road
  9. snap — to click
  10. land — to come down
  11. hand — help
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. spring — the season
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — of your body
  16. chest — a box
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. spring — of water
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. present — there
  21. present — the time now
  22. land — ground
  23. hand — in cards
  24. fork — a garden 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