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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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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: field · snap · last · bay · cold · content · wake · leaves

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. My mare is ________________ in color.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. snap — to click
  3. bay — a part of the sea
  4. content — happy
  5. bay — to keep at bay
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. last — final
  9. wake — a trail
  10. leaves — lets stay
  11. cold — not warm
  12. content — the amount
  13. last — to go on
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. field — for sport
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. field — farmland
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. bay — a horse colour
  21. field — a subject
  22. cold — an illness
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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