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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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Word bank
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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: board · land · spell · spring · rest · snap · saw · pitcher

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. snap — to click
  3. land — a country
  4. spell — a short time
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. spring — a coil
  7. board — to get on
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. spring — the season
  10. saw — the tool
  11. land — ground
  12. spell — magic
  13. land — to come down
  14. rest — what's left
  15. rest — what's left
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. board — a committee
  18. rest — a break
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. spring — of water
  24. spell — letters

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