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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. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. pass — to spend time
  3. wind — moving air
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. cold — not warm
  6. pass — a permit
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. pass — to succeed
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. march — the month
  12. band — a music group
  13. march — music
  14. march — the month
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. snap — to click
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. wind — moving air
  22. band — a ring
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. wind — to turn a key

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