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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: snap · saw · kick · mark · cap · game · row · net

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. saw — the tool
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. cap — of ice
  5. game — a match
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. cap — a lid
  8. row — a line
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. saw — the tool
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. mark — a grade
  14. snap — to click
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. kick — in football
  17. game — wild animals
  18. net — after costs
  19. net — in sport
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. mark — a trace
  22. row — to paddle
  23. net — for catching
  24. cap — a hat

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