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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 116 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: land · snap · spring · fork · deal · kid · stand · shower

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. I can't ________________ this cold.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. kid — child
  3. land — to come down
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. spring — a coil
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. stand — to bear
  10. spring — of water
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. land — ground
  15. fork — in a road
  16. shower — to wash
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. land — a country
  19. spring — the season
  20. shower — rain
  21. kid — to tease
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. deal — to handle
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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