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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. tear — to rip
  3. last — finally
  4. tear — from crying
  5. net — for catching
  6. last — final
  7. net — in sport
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. net — after costs
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. kid — to tease
  13. wind — moving air
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. kid — child
  16. face — to confront
  17. craft — a skill
  18. last — to go on
  19. tear — from crying
  20. face — to point toward
  21. wind — moving air
  22. face — part of the head
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. craft — boats

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