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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: clip · present · snap · hide · squash · cold · ball · chip

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. cold — an illness
  5. snap — to click
  6. clip — for paper
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. ball — a great time
  11. present — the time now
  12. ball — a dance
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. clip — to cut
  16. chip — to eat
  17. present — there
  18. squash — to crush
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. cold — not warm
  21. squash — the sport
  22. clip — a video
  23. chip — for betting
  24. squash — the vegetable

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