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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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Word bank
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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. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. charge — in control
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. cold — not warm
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. pitch — completely
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. charge — electricity
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wind — moving air
  13. scale — in music
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. scale — size or range
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. charge — a price
  20. cold — an illness
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. wind — moving air

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