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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: staff · spring · arm · snap · content · wind · shower · nail

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. content — happy
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — moving air
  6. shower — rain
  7. content — the amount
  8. staff — a stick
  9. spring — a coil
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. spring — the season
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. staff — employees
  20. staff — employees
  21. shower — to wash
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. spring — of water
  24. arm — part of the body

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