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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 · stick · coach · cold · fall · band · straw · lean

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  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 click
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. cold — an illness
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. band — a ring
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. lean — thin
  11. band — a music group
  12. fall — to drop
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. fall — to drop
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. lean — to bend
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. fall — the season
  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