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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. cap — of ice
  3. spell — a short time
  4. clip — for paper
  5. spell — magic
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. clip — a video
  8. pitch — completely
  9. spell — letters
  10. current — electric
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. cap — a lid
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. cold — not warm
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. current — happening now
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. clip — to cut
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cap — a hat
  22. chair — a leader
  23. current — of water
  24. pitch — a sports field

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