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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: race · spring · clip · snap · game · pitcher · bore · swing

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. spring — of water
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. game — wild animals
  5. race — a contest
  6. bore — to drill
  7. clip — to cut
  8. spring — a coil
  9. clip — a video
  10. race — the arms race
  11. spring — the season
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. bore — to tire
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. race — humankind
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. swing — to play on
  18. swing — music
  19. game — a match
  20. clip — for paper
  21. swing — in golf
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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