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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 116 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: net · ball · wave · cold · lash · snap · hand · stand

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. stand — on your feet
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. snap — to click
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. hand — help
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. cold — an illness
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. net — after costs
  13. hand — in cards
  14. net — for catching
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. ball — a dance
  19. stand — to bear
  20. net — in sport
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. ball — a great time
  23. cold — not warm
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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