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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 116 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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. file — a tool
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. bark — to shout
  7. net — in sport
  8. file — a document
  9. file — a line of people
  10. sharp — clever
  11. prune — to trim
  12. net — for catching
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. content — happy
  17. content — the amount
  18. sharp — with an edge

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