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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. club — for golf
  3. ball — a great time
  4. clip — to cut
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. cold — an illness
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. season — of the year
  11. club — a group
  12. cold — not warm
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. club — for dancing
  16. ball — a dance
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — for paper
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. season — in sport
  23. stand — to bear
  24. season — to add flavour

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