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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. net — after costs
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. lean — to bend
  5. spring — the season
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. lean — thin
  9. net — for catching
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. season — of the year
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. spring — of water
  15. spring — a coil
  16. season — in sport
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. wound — an injury
  21. fork — in a road
  22. date — the fruit
  23. wound — an injury
  24. lean — to rest against

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