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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. band — a music group
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. band — a ring
  5. file — a line of people
  6. clip — to cut
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. file — a document
  9. net — after costs
  10. clip — a video
  11. net — in sport
  12. clip — for paper
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. land — ground
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. hand — in cards
  17. land — a country
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. land — to come down
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. hand — help
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. file — a 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