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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: cold · chest · snap · charge · racket · root · date · key

  1. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. key — for a lock
  4. charge — a price
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. key — the most important part
  7. date — the fruit
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. snap — to click
  11. cold — not warm
  12. root — of a plant
  13. chest — of your body
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. root — the cause
  16. cold — an illness
  17. charge — in control
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. chest — a box
  20. chest — of your body
  21. root — of a word
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. key — in music
  24. racket — for tennis

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