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

Word bank: game · land · bark · net · pop · dip · bat · snap

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. pop — to visit
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. land — a country
  7. land — to come down
  8. pop — soda
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. game — a match
  11. snap — to click
  12. net — in sport
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. game — wild animals
  15. pop — music
  16. dip — to sink
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. net — after costs
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. bark — to shout
  21. land — ground
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. net — for catching
  24. bat — for baseball

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