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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. fork — in a road
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. spring — the season
  7. net — in sport
  8. deal — to handle
  9. kid — child
  10. spring — a coil
  11. spring — of water
  12. kid — to tease
  13. net — for catching
  14. current — of water
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. cold — an illness
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. cold — not warm
  20. current — electric
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. current — happening now
  23. wake — a trail
  24. wake — before a funeral

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