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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. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. pass — a permit
  3. deal — to handle
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. rush — hurry
  6. last — final
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. last — finally
  9. last — to go on
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. spring — a coil
  17. squash — the sport
  18. net — in sport
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. squash — to crush
  21. spring — of water
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. spring — the season
  24. net — for catching

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