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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. wind — moving air
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. snap — to click
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. wind — moving air
  11. march — the month
  12. march — music
  13. band — a ring
  14. march — the month
  15. cold — an illness
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. band — a music group
  18. cold — not warm

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