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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: present · race · file · cell · coach · snap · wound · hand

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. hand — help
  5. hand — in cards
  6. snap — to click
  7. file — a line of people
  8. race — a contest
  9. file — a document
  10. present — a gift
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. cell — a phone
  13. wound — an injury
  14. race — the arms race
  15. cell — in biology
  16. race — humankind
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. present — there
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. present — the time now
  22. file — a tool
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. wound — an injury

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