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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 116 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: swing · spell · snap · rock · spring · cold · pop · sharp

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. spring — of water
  3. swing — in golf
  4. snap — to click
  5. spell — letters
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. spell — a short time
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. spell — magic
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. rock — music
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. spring — the season
  14. swing — to play on
  15. cold — not warm
  16. pop — music
  17. pop — soda
  18. rock — a stone
  19. sharp — clever
  20. spring — a coil
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — an illness
  23. swing — music
  24. pop — to visit

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