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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. mate — a partner
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. chest — of your body
  5. kid — child
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. dip — to sink
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. wax — to grow
  10. kid — to tease
  11. chest — a box
  12. bass — the fish
  13. chest — of your body
  14. mate — to breed
  15. net — in sport
  16. net — for catching
  17. mate — a friend
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. plane — a tool
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. bass — low music
  24. dip — a sauce

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