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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: cold · mine · wind · capital · snap · mouse · nail · date

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. wind — moving air
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. capital — money
  8. mouse — for a computer
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. wind — moving air
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. date — the fruit
  14. cold — an illness
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. cold — not warm
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. snap — to click
  20. capital — a city
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. date — on the calendar

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