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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: snap · toast · hand · date · cold · firm · rest · wind

  1. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  18. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. hand — help
  3. cold — not warm
  4. firm — steady
  5. rest — what's left
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. hand — in cards
  8. cold — an illness
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. date — the fruit
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. rest — what's left
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. firm — a company
  18. firm — decided
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. rest — a break
  21. wind — moving air
  22. toast — bread
  23. snap — to click
  24. wind — moving air

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