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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. mate — a partner
  3. spell — letters
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — moving air
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. wound — an injury
  11. spell — a short time
  12. mate — a friend
  13. wound — an injury
  14. saw — the tool
  15. squash — to crush
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. spell — magic
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. mate — to breed
  23. saw — the tool
  24. squash — the sport

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