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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: snap · chest · land · game · foot · pitcher · nail · cold

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. cold — not warm
  4. snap — to click
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. chest — of your body
  9. game — wild animals
  10. land — to come down
  11. chest — of your body
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. chest — a box
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. game — a match
  22. foot — a measure
  23. land — ground
  24. cold — an illness

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