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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: bat · snap · fall · rule · pass · content · wound · tube

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. content — happy
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. fall — to drop
  6. wound — an injury
  7. tube — a container
  8. pass — to succeed
  9. snap — to click
  10. fall — to drop
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. rule — a law
  13. pass — a permit
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. bat — the animal
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. content — the amount
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. wound — an injury
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. fall — the season
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. rule — government

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