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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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Word bank
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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 · face · saw · spring · land · snap · kid · pitch

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. snap — to click
  3. clip — a video
  4. face — part of the head
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. pitch — completely
  8. saw — the tool
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. spring — a coil
  11. spring — of water
  12. kid — to tease
  13. spring — the season
  14. land — a country
  15. kid — child
  16. face — to point toward
  17. saw — the tool
  18. land — ground
  19. clip — for paper
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. face — to confront
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. clip — to cut

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