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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: bat · race · firm · racket · clip · snap · squash · root

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. race — humankind
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. race — the arms race
  6. snap — to click
  7. firm — a company
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. firm — steady
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. clip — for paper
  13. firm — decided
  14. root — of a plant
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. clip — to cut
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. bat — the animal
  19. race — a contest
  20. squash — to crush
  21. root — of a word
  22. root — the cause
  23. squash — the sport
  24. clip — a video

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