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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 · rest · game · firm · snap · wind · hand · capital

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  7. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. rest — a break
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. wind — moving air
  5. hand — help
  6. firm — steady
  7. firm — a company
  8. game — a match
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. wind — moving air
  12. snap — to click
  13. capital — money
  14. game — wild animals
  15. firm — decided
  16. hand — in cards
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. capital — a city
  19. rest — what's left
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. rest — what's left
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. hand — part of the body

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