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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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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: snap · last · sharp · game · roll · date · drill · hand

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. snap — to click
  3. roll — a cake
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. sharp — clever
  7. game — a match
  8. date — the fruit
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. drill — army training
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. last — to go on
  15. roll — a list
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. drill — the tool
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. hand — in cards
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. hand — help
  22. game — wild animals
  23. drill — a practice
  24. last — finally

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