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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — for catching
  3. roll — a cake
  4. tear — from crying
  5. mate — to breed
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. tear — to rip
  8. mate — a partner
  9. cold — an illness
  10. mate — a friend
  11. cold — not warm
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. roll — a list
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. tear — from crying
  17. net — in sport
  18. hide — to keep secret

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