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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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Word bank
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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: hand · patient · land · wind · snap · band · pop · straw

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. pop — to visit
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. hand — in cards
  5. pop — music
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. band — a music group
  12. land — to come down
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. wind — moving air
  16. snap — to click
  17. wind — moving air
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. land — ground
  20. hand — help
  21. pop — soda
  22. land — a country
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. band — a ring

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