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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. clip — for paper
  5. clip — to cut
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — money
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. current — electric
  14. clip — a video
  15. rest — a break
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. mine — for digging
  18. prune — to trim
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. rest — what's left
  21. current — happening now
  22. current — of water
  23. prune — to trim
  24. rest — what's left

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