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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: hide · tear · track · saw · snap · chair · roll · chest

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. tear — from crying
  6. saw — the tool
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. track — a song
  9. track — a path
  10. saw — the tool
  11. tear — from crying
  12. chest — a box
  13. snap — to click
  14. track — to keep track
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. roll — a cake
  17. chest — of your body
  18. tear — to rip
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. chair — a leader
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. chest — of your body
  24. roll — a list

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