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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. snap — to click
  5. hand — in cards
  6. cold — an illness
  7. current — electric
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. wax — to grow
  10. field — farmland
  11. squash — to crush
  12. field — for sport
  13. ball — a great time
  14. current — of water
  15. field — a subject
  16. ball — a dance
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. hand — help
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. cold — not warm
  23. squash — the sport
  24. current — happening now

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