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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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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: bat · land · ball · branch · cue · snap · pop · wind

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. bat — the animal
  3. ball — a great time
  4. land — to come down
  5. pop — soda
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. branch — a division
  8. ball — a dance
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. land — ground
  12. land — a country
  13. cue — for pool
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. cue — a signal
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — moving air
  18. pop — music
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. cue — a hint
  23. pop — to visit
  24. bat — in an idiom

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