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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: drill · band · snap · wind · press · bank · game · row

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. wind — moving air
  4. band — a music group
  5. drill — army training
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. band — a ring
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. row — to paddle
  10. bank — for money
  11. game — wild animals
  12. wind — moving air
  13. press — a publisher
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. press — to push
  16. bank — of a river
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. row — a line
  19. drill — a practice
  20. press — newspapers
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. game — a match
  23. drill — the tool
  24. bank — for money

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