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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. snap — to click
  3. wind — moving air
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. cold — an illness
  6. land — to come down
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. rash — a series
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. rash — hasty
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. land — a country
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. rush — hurry
  19. wind — moving air
  20. land — ground
  21. cold — not warm
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. band — a music group
  24. band — a ring

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