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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. face — part of the head
  3. wake — a trail
  4. clip — a video
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. stand — on your feet
  7. net — for catching
  8. clip — to cut
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. clip — for paper
  11. file — a line of people
  12. file — a tool
  13. face — to point toward
  14. kid — to tease
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. stand — to bear
  17. file — a document
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. face — to confront
  20. net — in sport
  21. fork — in a road
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. kid — child
  24. fork — to eat with

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