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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. clip — for paper
  3. mate — a friend
  4. snap — to click
  5. cap — of ice
  6. mate — to breed
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. cue — for pool
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. cue — a signal
  12. cue — a hint
  13. spring — the season
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. mate — a partner
  17. cap — a lid
  18. clip — to cut
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. spring — of water
  21. spring — a coil
  22. cap — a hat
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. clip — a video

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