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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. spring — of water
  3. spring — a coil
  4. prune — to trim
  5. fall — to drop
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. spell — magic
  10. spell — a short time
  11. prune — to trim
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. roll — a list
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. fall — to drop
  16. net — in sport
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. net — for catching
  19. spell — letters
  20. roll — a cake
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. fall — the season
  23. bat — the animal
  24. spring — the season

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