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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. wound — an injury
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. season — in sport
  7. mine — for digging
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. wound — an injury
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. wind — moving air
  13. season — of the year
  14. band — a ring
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. capital — a city
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. band — a music group
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. capital — money

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