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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 · cold · wind · pound · saw · swing · mine · cap

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. snap — to click
  7. swing — in golf
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. saw — the tool
  10. swing — to play on
  11. pound — a weight
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. mine — for digging
  15. wind — moving air
  16. saw — the tool
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — an illness
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. wind — moving air
  22. swing — music
  23. cap — of ice
  24. cap — a lid

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