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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. spell — magic
  3. hand — help
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. spell — letters
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. degree — temperature
  9. net — for catching
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. wax — to grow
  12. hand — in cards
  13. degree — from a university
  14. degree — an amount
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. content — the amount
  18. net — in sport
  19. press — to push
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. press — newspapers
  22. content — happy
  23. spell — a short time
  24. press — a publisher

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