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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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Word bank
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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 · hand · tube · coach · squash · pitcher · game · clip

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. clip — to cut
  3. tube — the underground
  4. game — wild animals
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. game — a match
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. clip — a video
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. hand — help
  14. squash — to crush
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. hand — in cards
  17. clip — for paper
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. squash — the sport
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. snap — to click

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