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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: dip · fork · field · squash · bay · present · cold · snap

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. squash — to crush
  5. present — a gift
  6. field — farmland
  7. field — a subject
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. cold — not warm
  10. squash — the sport
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. dip — to sink
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. cold — an illness
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. present — there
  18. field — for sport
  19. present — the time now
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. bay — a part of the sea
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. fork — in a road

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