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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. wind — moving air
  3. ball — a dance
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. net — in sport
  9. net — after costs
  10. snap — to click
  11. shower — to wash
  12. branch — a division
  13. bear — the animal
  14. shower — rain
  15. bear — the animal
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. net — for catching
  24. wind — moving air

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