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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. The tickets are free of ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. net — after costs
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. net — for catching
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wind — moving air
  10. dip — to sink
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. wound — an injury
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. charge — in control
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. prune — to trim
  17. shower — rain
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. prune — to trim
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. charge — a price
  23. shower — to wash
  24. net — in sport

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