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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: row · cold · mine · hand · pass · date · stand · snap

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. stand — on your feet
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. pass — a permit
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. snap — to click
  9. row — to paddle
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. cold — not warm
  12. stand — to bear
  13. date — the fruit
  14. row — a line
  15. hand — help
  16. cold — an illness
  17. hand — in cards
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. mine — belonging to me

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