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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. net — after costs
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. bark — to shout
  7. game — wild animals
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. toast — bread
  10. game — a match
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. bound — obliged
  13. wound — an injury
  14. bound — tied together
  15. net — in sport
  16. wound — an injury
  17. bound — certain
  18. net — for catching

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