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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. rush — hurry
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. stock — goods
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. fork — in a road
  12. wind — moving air
  13. wind — moving air
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. shower — rain
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. race — humankind
  21. stock — shares
  22. race — a contest
  23. race — the arms race
  24. shower — to wash

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