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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 116 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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. row — a line
  6. cell — a phone
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — to cut
  10. net — for catching
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. cell — in biology
  13. cold — not warm
  14. clip — for paper
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. lie — to recline
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. cold — an illness
  22. net — after costs
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. row — to paddle

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