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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: clip · wound · cold · lash · content · snap · plane · race

  1. The ________________ took off on time.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. snap — to click
  4. race — humankind
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. content — the amount
  7. clip — for paper
  8. wound — an injury
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. content — happy
  12. cold — not warm
  13. plane — a tool
  14. race — a contest
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. wound — an injury
  17. race — the arms race
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — an illness
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — a video
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. lash — to lash out

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