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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. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. rest — a break
  5. saw — the tool
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. kid — to tease
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — an injury
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. saw — the tool
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. rest — what's left
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. rest — what's left
  21. kid — child
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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