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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. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — past of 'see'
  2. saw — the tool
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. spell — a short time
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. net — for catching
  7. game — wild animals
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. game — a match
  10. spell — magic
  11. hand — help
  12. kid — child
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. band — a ring
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. hand — in cards
  17. kid — to tease
  18. spell — letters
  19. net — after costs
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. net — in sport
  22. band — a music group
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. saw — the tool

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