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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. wound — an injury
  3. band — a music group
  4. rush — hurry
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. bat — the animal
  7. wound — an injury
  8. band — a ring
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. wind — moving air
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. wind — moving air
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. spring — of water
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — the season
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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