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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 116 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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. swing — in golf
  3. swing — to play on
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. snap — to click
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. bat — the animal
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. cold — not warm
  14. swing — music
  15. face — to point toward
  16. stem — to come from
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. face — part of the head
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. branch — a division
  21. cold — an illness
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. face — to confront

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