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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 116 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: bank · land · march · row · cold · snap · swing · hand

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — an illness
  4. land — to come down
  5. swing — in golf
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. march — music
  9. swing — music
  10. bank — of a river
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. land — a country
  13. swing — to play on
  14. cold — not warm
  15. row — a line
  16. bank — for money
  17. row — to paddle
  18. march — the month
  19. bank — for money
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. hand — in cards
  22. snap — to click
  23. land — ground
  24. march — the month

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