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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: leaves · snap · sharp · cold · mouse · chest · field · stand

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I can't ________________ this cold.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. cold — not warm
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. snap — to click
  6. cold — an illness
  7. stand — to bear
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. chest — of your body
  11. field — for sport
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. field — a subject
  14. chest — of your body
  15. mouse — for a computer
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. stand — on your feet
  19. chest — a box
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. sharp — clever
  23. field — farmland
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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