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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: key · row · mine · snap · straw · cabinet · cold · clip

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. What do you think of the new ________________?
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. clip — a video
  4. key — in music
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. key — the most important part
  7. cold — an illness
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. cold — not warm
  10. mine — for digging
  11. clip — for paper
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. row — a line
  14. clip — to cut
  15. key — for a lock
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. row — to paddle
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. snap — to click
  24. cold — the Cold War

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