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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: clip · cold · lean · rock · pound · cue · snap · face

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. I'll take my ________________ from you.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. lean — thin
  3. clip — for paper
  4. pound — a weight
  5. cue — a signal
  6. face — to confront
  7. cold — not warm
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. lean — to bend
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. face — to point toward
  13. snap — to click
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. cue — for pool
  17. rock — a stone
  18. clip — a video
  19. rock — music
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. clip — to cut
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. face — part of the head
  24. cue — a hint

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