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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 120 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: snap · club · pound · wax · race · pitch · cell · cold

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. pound — a weight
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. pitch — completely
  7. cold — an illness
  8. race — a contest
  9. race — the arms race
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. wax — to grow
  15. club — for dancing
  16. cell — a phone
  17. club — a group
  18. club — for golf
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. snap — to click
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. cell — in biology
  23. race — humankind
  24. cold — not warm

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