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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. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. bat — the animal
  4. face — to point toward
  5. lie — to recline
  6. bore — to drill
  7. net — in sport
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. mouse — for a computer
  11. clip — to cut
  12. clip — for paper
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. cold — not warm
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. face — to confront
  17. bore — to tire
  18. cold — an illness
  19. clip — a video
  20. net — for catching
  21. face — part of the head
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bat — in an idiom

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