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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. net — for catching
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. ground — a position
  6. sharp — clever
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. wound — an injury
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. chest — of your body
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. stem — to come from
  18. ground — crushed
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. chest — a box
  22. net — after costs
  23. ground — the earth
  24. wound — an injury

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