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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: wind · perch · snap · rash · bark · band · straw · mouse

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. bark — to shout
  9. rash — hasty
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. rash — a series
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. perch — the fish
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. wind — moving air
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. band — a music group
  22. band — a ring
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. wind — moving air

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