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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. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. net — for catching
  3. rock — a stone
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. net — after costs
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. mine — for digging
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. game — wild animals
  10. rock — music
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. game — a match
  13. saw — the tool
  14. saw — the tool
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. cold — not warm
  17. snap — to click
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. cold — an illness
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. net — in sport
  24. snap — to speak sharply

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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