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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: board · pass · stock · clip · snap · fork · wind · chest

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. chest — of your body
  3. clip — to cut
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. chest — a box
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. chest — of your body
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. fork — in a road
  14. board — to get on
  15. pass — a permit
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. stock — shares
  18. clip — for paper
  19. stock — goods
  20. wind — moving air
  21. board — a committee
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. clip — a video
  24. wind — moving air

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