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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: land · hand · fan · snap · spell · mate · clip · drill

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. mate — a friend
  3. drill — the tool
  4. hand — in cards
  5. land — ground
  6. clip — to cut
  7. land — to come down
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. spell — a short time
  10. hand — help
  11. spell — letters
  12. drill — a practice
  13. spell — magic
  14. snap — to click
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. drill — army training
  18. clip — for paper
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. land — a country
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. clip — a video
  23. mate — a partner
  24. mate — to breed

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