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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. spring — of water
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. wind — moving air
  5. net — after costs
  6. wind — moving air
  7. rash — hasty
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. spring — a coil
  12. spell — letters
  13. clip — a video
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. spell — magic
  16. spring — the season
  17. chest — of your body
  18. clip — for paper
  19. net — in sport
  20. chest — a box
  21. spell — a short time
  22. clip — to cut
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. rash — a series

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