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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 120 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. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. deal — to handle
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. race — the arms race
  7. race — a contest
  8. last — to go on
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. race — humankind
  11. last — finally
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. band — a music group
  14. last — final
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. wound — an injury
  19. band — a ring
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. chair — a leader
  24. deal — a big deal

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