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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. band — a music group
  4. chip — to eat
  5. cold — not warm
  6. kid — child
  7. net — for catching
  8. band — a ring
  9. net — in sport
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. current — electric
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. capital — money
  14. kid — to tease
  15. capital — a city
  16. net — after costs
  17. current — happening now
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. cold — an illness
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. chip — for betting
  22. current — of water
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. snap — to click

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