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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: march · snap · kid · bat · content · root

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. bat — the animal
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. content — happy
  6. root — of a word
  7. snap — to click
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. kid — child
  10. march — music
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. root — of a plant
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. content — the amount
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. kid — to tease
  17. root — the cause
  18. march — the month

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