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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. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. lean — to bend
  4. last — to go on
  5. pop — to visit
  6. rash — a series
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. net — for catching
  9. rash — hasty
  10. pop — music
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. branch — a division
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. lean — thin
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. wax — to grow
  19. pop — soda
  20. last — final
  21. last — finally
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. net — in sport
  24. bat — in an idiom

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