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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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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: pit · spell · snap · kid · drill · cap · wound · spring

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. spring — a coil
  3. drill — a practice
  4. kid — to tease
  5. spell — magic
  6. pit — in a race
  7. snap — to click
  8. spring — of water
  9. spring — the season
  10. cap — of ice
  11. kid — child
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. wound — an injury
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. cap — a lid
  18. spell — a short time
  19. wound — an injury
  20. pit — a hole
  21. drill — army training
  22. drill — the tool
  23. spell — letters
  24. cap — a hat

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