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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: spring · pitcher · snap · pit · kick · cold · cap · march

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. kick — in football
  3. pit — in a race
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. spring — a coil
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. spring — of water
  10. march — the month
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. cap — of ice
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. snap — to click
  15. pit — a hole
  16. spring — the season
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. cap — a hat
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cap — a lid
  22. march — the month
  23. march — music
  24. cold — the Cold War

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