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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 116 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: fan · wind · rash · straw · snap · row · drill · bat

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. row — to paddle
  6. wind — moving air
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. snap — to click
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. row — a line
  12. drill — the tool
  13. rash — a series
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. drill — army training
  20. drill — a practice
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. rash — hasty
  23. bat — the animal
  24. rash — on the skin

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