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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: wave · bear · snap · chest · date · kick · cold · club

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. club — for dancing
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — a box
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. date — the fruit
  8. chest — of your body
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. snap — to click
  12. club — for golf
  13. bear — the animal
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. kick — in football
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. cold — an illness
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. bear — the animal
  22. club — a group
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. cold — the Cold War

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