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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: net · saw · pound · snap · wound · chair · bat · cold

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. pound — a weight
  3. chair — a leader
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. snap — to click
  11. net — in sport
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. wound — an injury
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. net — after costs
  16. saw — the tool
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. net — for catching
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. wound — an injury
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. saw — the tool

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