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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. chair — a leader
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. lean — thin
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. lean — to bend
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. snap — to click
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. net — for catching
  16. net — in sport
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. hand — help
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. hand — in cards
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. chair — to sit on

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