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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: key · field · shower · bat · rest · snap · content · cabinet

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. This piece is in a major ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. key — in music
  3. shower — to wash
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. rest — a break
  6. key — the most important part
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. field — a subject
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. rest — what's left
  11. field — for sport
  12. field — farmland
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. content — happy
  17. key — for a lock
  18. rest — what's left
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. bat — the animal
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. content — the amount
  24. shower — rain

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