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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: bear · wound · snap · dip · clip · wind · cap · ground

  1. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. snap — to click
  3. wind — moving air
  4. bear — the animal
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. clip — to cut
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. ground — a position
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. wound — an injury
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. clip — for paper
  13. wound — an injury
  14. dip — to sink
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. ground — crushed
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. cap — a lid
  20. ground — the earth
  21. cap — a hat
  22. cap — of ice
  23. clip — a video
  24. bear — to put up with

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