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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: ball · wind · snap · file · fall · last

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. snap — to click
  3. fall — the season
  4. last — final
  5. file — a document
  6. fall — to drop
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. wind — moving air
  9. fall — to drop
  10. last — finally
  11. ball — a great time
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. wind — moving air
  14. ball — a dance
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. last — to go on
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. file — a line of people

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