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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. David sat on the ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. swing — to play on
  3. net — for catching
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. wake — a trail
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. pass — to spend time
  9. swing — in golf
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — a video
  12. tear — from crying
  13. swing — music
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. clip — for paper
  16. tear — from crying
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. tear — to rip
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. net — in sport
  21. pass — a permit
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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