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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: file · spring · deal · pit · snap · present · bat · kid

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. kid — child
  4. pit — a hole
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. spring — a coil
  8. file — a line of people
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. present — the time now
  12. present — there
  13. kid — to tease
  14. pit — in a race
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. spring — the season
  17. deal — to handle
  18. bat — the animal
  19. spring — of water
  20. present — a gift
  21. file — a document
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. file — a tool
  24. bat — for baseball

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