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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 120 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: pop · cold · band · firm · snap · clip · saw · capital

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  24. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. pop — to visit
  3. band — a ring
  4. capital — a city
  5. band — a music group
  6. capital — money
  7. cold — not warm
  8. saw — the tool
  9. clip — a video
  10. snap — to click
  11. cold — an illness
  12. saw — the tool
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. pop — music
  16. pop — soda
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. firm — a company
  19. clip — to cut
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. clip — for paper
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. firm — decided
  24. firm — steady

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