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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: staff · snap · band · field · lash · drill · row · wind

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. row — a line
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. drill — army training
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. wind — moving air
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. snap — to click
  12. field — for sport
  13. drill — a practice
  14. drill — the tool
  15. row — to paddle
  16. band — a ring
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. field — farmland
  19. staff — a stick
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. field — a subject
  22. wind — moving air
  23. staff — employees
  24. band — a music group

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