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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: nail · tube · club · kid · cold · hand · object · snap

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. club — for golf
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. object — a thing
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. club — for dancing
  9. cold — an illness
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. kid — child
  14. cold — not warm
  15. snap — to click
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. hand — help
  18. tube — the underground
  19. tube — a container
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. club — a group
  22. object — an aim
  23. hand — in cards
  24. object — to protest

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