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

Word bank: content · snap · mine · cold · lash · wound

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. wound — an injury
  3. content — happy
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. cold — not warm
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. wound — an injury
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. mine — for digging
  13. content — the amount
  14. snap — to click
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. cold — an illness
  18. lash — an eyelash

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