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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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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. bass — low music
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. cold — not warm
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. kid — to tease
  8. bank — of a river
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. march — the month
  11. bank — for money
  12. tear — to rip
  13. march — music
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. bank — for money
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. march — the month
  20. kid — child
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — from crying
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. bass — the fish

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