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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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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: snap · cold · object · game · cap · band · content · season

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. object — to protest
  3. season — in sport
  4. object — a thing
  5. content — happy
  6. season — of the year
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cap — a hat
  10. game — wild animals
  11. cold — an illness
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. game — a match
  14. cap — of ice
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. cap — a lid
  18. object — an aim
  19. band — a music group
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. content — the amount
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. snap — to click
  24. band — a ring

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