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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: straw · snap · rule · mouse · cell · hide · ground · file

  1. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. snap — to click
  6. hide — animal skin
  7. ground — the earth
  8. file — a document
  9. rule — a law
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. file — a tool
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. cell — in biology
  17. ground — a position
  18. ground — crushed
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. cell — a phone
  21. rule — government
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. file — a line of people
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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