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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: band · cold · lean · wound · field · snap · drill · chip

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. chip — for betting
  4. lean — thin
  5. field — farmland
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. lean — to bend
  8. cold — an illness
  9. band — a ring
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. wound — an injury
  13. cold — not warm
  14. drill — army training
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. drill — the tool
  17. snap — to click
  18. field — for sport
  19. field — a subject
  20. band — a music group
  21. chip — to eat
  22. wound — an injury
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. drill — a practice

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