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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. What do you think of the new ________________?
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. kid — to tease
  3. ball — a dance
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. ball — a great time
  10. drill — army training
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. fall — the season
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. sharp — clever
  16. fall — to drop
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. drill — a practice
  19. kid — child
  20. drill — the tool
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. clip — a video
  23. fall — to drop
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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