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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: chest · wind · snap · last · bay · pit · clip · fine

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. My mare is ________________ in color.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  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. chest — of your body
  2. clip — for paper
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. fine — high quality
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pit — a hole
  7. fine — all right
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. last — to go on
  10. last — final
  11. bay — a horse colour
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chest — a box
  14. pit — in a race
  15. clip — a video
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. bay — a part of the sea
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. wind — moving air
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. snap — to click
  22. wind — moving air
  23. last — finally
  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