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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. The tickets are free of ________________.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. charge — electricity
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. clip — for paper
  6. wake — a trail
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bound — certain
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. charge — in control
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bass — low music
  14. cold — not warm
  15. rash — a series
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — a video
  18. bass — the fish
  19. bound — tied together
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. charge — a price
  23. bound — obliged
  24. rash — hasty

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