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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. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. net — for catching
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. content — the amount
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. net — after costs
  12. net — in sport
  13. tube — a container
  14. tube — the underground
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. mine — for digging
  17. content — happy
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. wind — moving air
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. wind — moving air

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