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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. snap — to click
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. mate — a partner
  6. mate — a friend
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. chair — a leader
  9. clip — for paper
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. clip — a video
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. scale — size or range
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. race — the arms race
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. race — a contest
  18. clip — to cut
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. hand — in cards
  22. scale — in music
  23. race — humankind
  24. hand — help

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