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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. cap — a lid
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. band — a music group
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. can — a tin
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. cold — an illness
  9. scale — in music
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. pop — to visit
  12. can — a tin
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. cap — of ice
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. cap — a hat
  17. cold — not warm
  18. pop — music
  19. scale — size or range
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. pop — soda
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. can — to be able to
  24. band — a ring

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