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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 · spell · wind · race · snap · hand · last · pitch

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. hand — in cards
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. wind — moving air
  7. race — the arms race
  8. spell — letters
  9. last — to go on
  10. bat — the animal
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. race — humankind
  14. spell — a short time
  15. wind — moving air
  16. last — finally
  17. pitch — completely
  18. hand — help
  19. snap — to click
  20. last — final
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. spell — magic
  23. race — a contest
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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