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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cap · wake · bat · perch · snap · game

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. game — a match
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. bat — the animal
  6. cap — of ice
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. wake — a trail
  12. cap — a lid
  13. perch — the fish
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. game — wild animals
  16. cap — a hat
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. bat — in an idiom

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