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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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468
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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. wound — an injury
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. wind — moving air
  5. snap — to click
  6. cap — of ice
  7. band — a music group
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. cap — a lid
  12. band — a ring
  13. swing — in golf
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. swing — music
  20. game — wild animals
  21. swing — to play on
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. cap — a hat

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