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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: bass · snap · present · wind · tear · date

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. wind — moving air
  4. snap — to click
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. tear — from crying
  9. present — the time now
  10. date — the fruit
  11. bass — the fish
  12. tear — from crying
  13. bass — low music
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. present — a gift
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. present — there
  18. wind — moving air

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