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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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — moving air
  4. toast — bread
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. tear — from crying
  9. current — happening now
  10. hand — help
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. tear — from crying
  13. branch — a division
  14. net — for catching
  15. current — electric
  16. hand — in cards
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. net — after costs
  20. kid — to tease
  21. current — of water
  22. tear — to rip
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. kid — child

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