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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. wind — moving air
  3. pound — a weight
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — from crying
  9. hand — help
  10. branch — a division
  11. wound — an injury
  12. hand — in cards
  13. wind — moving air
  14. game — wild animals
  15. snap — to click
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. tear — to rip
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wound — an injury
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. game — a match

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