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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 120 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. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. ground — a position
  3. net — in sport
  4. tube — the underground
  5. mate — a friend
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. file — a line of people
  8. mark — a trace
  9. wound — an injury
  10. wound — an injury
  11. file — a tool
  12. net — for catching
  13. mate — a partner
  14. mark — a grade
  15. ground — crushed
  16. chest — of your body
  17. tube — a container
  18. ground — the earth
  19. file — a document
  20. chest — of your body
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. mate — to breed
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. chest — a box

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