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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: cold · spell · drill · snap · cue · kick

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. drill — army training
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cue — a hint
  7. spell — letters
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. spell — a short time
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. kick — in football
  13. cue — a signal
  14. drill — a practice
  15. cue — for pool
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. drill — the tool
  18. spell — magic

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