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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 124 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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cold · mug · snap · race · wake · cell

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. cold — not warm
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. wake — a trail
  5. mug — a face
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. snap — to click
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cold — an illness
  10. race — humankind
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. race — the arms race
  13. mug — to rob
  14. race — a contest
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. mug — a cup
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cell — in biology

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