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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. pop — soda
  3. current — of water
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. kid — to tease
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. branch — a division
  8. tear — from crying
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. pop — to visit
  11. current — happening now
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. pop — music
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. tear — to rip
  16. current — electric
  17. tear — from crying
  18. row — a line
  19. stand — to bear
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kid — child
  24. row — to paddle

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