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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. wound — an injury
  3. file — a tool
  4. degree — an amount
  5. wound — an injury
  6. tear — to rip
  7. file — a line of people
  8. tube — the underground
  9. degree — temperature
  10. degree — from a university
  11. saw — the tool
  12. file — a document
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. tear — from crying
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. tube — a container
  21. tear — from crying
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. saw — the tool

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