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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 120 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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  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 — after costs
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. wind — moving air
  5. rash — hasty
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — a box
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. foot — part of the body
  11. prune — to trim
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. wind — moving air
  14. foot — a measure
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. stem — to come from
  17. net — in sport
  18. prune — to trim
  19. net — for catching
  20. chest — of your body
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. prune — the fruit
  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