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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — in sport
  3. prune — to trim
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. prune — to trim
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. ground — a position
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. kid — child
  13. kid — to tease
  14. mine — for digging
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. saw — the tool
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. net — for catching
  19. rash — a series
  20. ground — the earth
  21. saw — the tool
  22. rash — hasty
  23. ground — crushed
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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