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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. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. net — after costs
  3. press — to push
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. hand — help
  6. bore — to tire
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. net — for catching
  9. wound — an injury
  10. net — in sport
  11. rest — what's left
  12. hand — in cards
  13. bore — to drill
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. degree — from a university
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. press — a publisher
  18. press — newspapers
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. wound — an injury
  21. degree — temperature
  22. rest — a break
  23. degree — an amount
  24. bore — gave birth

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