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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. fall — the season
  5. hand — in cards
  6. lean — to bend
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. fall — to drop
  10. hand — help
  11. wind — moving air
  12. lean — thin
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. row — a line
  16. net — for catching
  17. net — in sport
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. fall — to drop
  22. sharp — clever
  23. row — to paddle
  24. wind — moving air

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