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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 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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  16. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. net — for catching
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. ground — the earth
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. kid — to tease
  7. ground — crushed
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — a video
  11. fine — all right
  12. bank — for money
  13. clip — for paper
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. bank — for money
  16. bank — of a river
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. ground — a position
  19. net — in sport
  20. fine — high quality
  21. net — after costs
  22. cold — not warm
  23. kid — child
  24. cold — an illness

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