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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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Word bank
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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: clip · race · pitch · snap · mate · chest

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. snap — to click
  3. race — a contest
  4. mate — to breed
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. mate — a friend
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. mate — a partner
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — of your body
  11. clip — a video
  12. chest — a box
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — for paper
  15. race — humankind
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. race — the arms race
  18. pitch — completely

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