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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. net — in sport
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. hand — help
  6. rash — a series
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. wind — moving air
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. net — after costs
  11. clip — a video
  12. hand — in cards
  13. clip — to cut
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. wind — moving air
  16. ball — a great time
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. rash — hasty
  20. game — a match
  21. net — for catching
  22. game — wild animals
  23. clip — for paper
  24. hand — part of the body

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