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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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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: lean · snap · bore · tear · march · wake · hand · clip

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. lean — to bend
  6. march — the month
  7. hand — help
  8. wake — a trail
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. hand — in cards
  11. clip — a video
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. snap — to click
  16. tear — from crying
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. march — music
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. bore — to drill
  21. tear — to rip
  22. tear — from crying
  23. march — the month
  24. bore — to tire

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